Women's Heart Rate Monitor

Heart Rate Monitor Running Diary – Week Two (Part 4 and Summary)

I’m pleased to say that my cold does not seem to be getting worse and is remaining very mild. I’ve written an article on the Women’s Heart Rate Monitor blog that discusses the subject of “should I run when I have a cold”, so you can see how I decide whether I should continue training.

I started the run at the same speed as my previous run and could soon see that I was responding better to the training. Not only was my first mile faster, but also I ran the fastest times for each of the subsequent mile splits. I proceeded with my plan to run the full five miles.

My split times were 10:41, 22:17, 34:27, 47:29, and 01:01:37. It is good to see a couple of minutes reduction in my four mile time in the space of a week. The times are still slow for me, but I’m aware that it will take me four months or more to get back to my previous fitness level, and longer still to get back to my best.

Here is the summary of my training this week:

My plan for the coming week is to run four recovery runs for a total of twenty miles, and with my longest run being six miles. I’m tempted to throw in a hard session, but will hold-off until I am ready. The improvements are coming – it just takes time, patience and a plan.

Technorati Tags: Heart Rate Monitor, heart rate monitor running, Running Diary, Running Plan, Running Program, Womens Heart Rate Monitor

Heart Rate Monitor Training – Should I run during illness such as a Cold or Flu?

If you have been following my recent diary entries for Women’s Heart Rate Monitor, you will have seen that I recently caught a cold and continued with my training program. You may have wondered if this was a wise thing to do. So let’s take a look at some of the advice that I follow (most of the time – I’m not perfect).

The good news for people that take moderate exercise each day is that studies have found that this appears to minimize illness. Moderate exercise is generally taken to be around thirty minutes per day, and seems to be the most often quoted figure. Anecdotally, many people who exercise regularly feel that they get less illness in general, and recover quicker when they do get ill.

However, it should be borne in mind that harder and longer exercise can make it more likely that you may contract a cold, particularly if you make a sudden increase in your mileage or intensity to a level that your body is not used to. You should use your heart rate monitor to ensure that you do not over-train and that you balance hard training with rest and recovery. Following a long, hard run (e.g. in the latter stages of marathon training) it is best to avoid people that have colds, because the immune system may be suppressed for up to eight hours following the run.

Given that exercise may minimize the likelihood of contracting a cold – it still doesn’t eliminate the risk. The fact is that most of us will suffer some form of cold or respiratory illness in a given year, no matter what precautions we may take. People who run regularly are least likely to want to stop when illness strikes. If a race is looming, many may be tempted to continue training when really they should be resting and allowing their immune system to work at its most efficient.

Now, when the inevitable does happen and you contract a cold or flu, what should you do? Well, for a genuine flu, the simple answer is that you should rest – and frankly you will be unable to do anything else. However, a common cold may not necessarily mean that you need to skip training. The generally accepted rule is that it is okay to run if your cold symptoms are confined above the neck. So, if you have a runny nose, sore throat, mild headache and sneezing, you may run if you want to. Use your heart rate monitor to gauge how fast you should be running. I have found that my heart rate is persistently higher when I have a cold (by as much as ten beats per minute!), which means that I must run slower than usual to achieve my goal for the run.

Regardless of your planned running intensity for the session, you should start out easy to assess how you feel. Don’t ignore signals such as increasing pain in the head, as it would be better to abort the run and get some rest. Personally, I will generally avoid high-intensity training for a day or two if I believe that I can shake-off the cold quicker. Nonetheless, I have made the mistake of continuing on a long run when a cold was waning, only to have it come back with a vengeance.

If the symptoms of your cold are below the neck – such as a deep hacking cough, vomiting, aching muscles, diarrhoea – then you really should not run. It is far better to rest and recover from the illness, rather than run and prolong the illness or even make it worse. There is no rule that says you have to play Russian-Roulette with your life in order to stick to a training schedule. Remind yourself why it is that you are doing this activity in the first place. On your list of reasons, I’ll venture that “so that I can suffer longer and more frequent illness” is not in the top ten.

Unfortunately, it’s true that you will lose endurance very quickly during illness, and the comeback can be quite slow to start with. The danger is that you may throw yourself into hard training too soon, possibly causing a relapse. My advice is to start back with a recovery run, rather than trying to catch-up by recommencing with a hard run. During the run you will almost certainly find yourself running slower at your recovery ceiling. Depending on how severe and prolonged your illness was, you may need to have extra rest days and steer-clear of hard runs for a while. Build up gradually until you are back to full strength. You should find yourself naturally running faster again during each run at the same level of effort. If improvements do not occur, then consider having extra rest. If you missed a week of training due to illness, then you should expect to spend a week or two to build-up to the pre-illness level. I personally find that I need twice as long as the length of training absence in order to fully recover (i.e. two weeks build-up for one week missed training).

Another good use of your heart rate monitor is to take your resting heart rate regularly. When you know your normal resting rate, you will be able to see whether your current resting heart rate is significantly above this level. This can be a useful indicator of illness or over-training.

In summary, if your cold symptoms are above the neck it is okay for your training to proceed with caution. Use your heart rate monitor to check how you are responding to training and adjust your intensity level accordingly. Following an illness, give yourself time to get-back to your pre-illness level. You have a lifetime of running ahead of you – a few days or weeks of rest is a good thing and not something that should be avoided at any cost.

Technorati Tags: Cold, Flu, Heart Rate Monitor, Illness, Recovery, Run, Running, Womens Heart Rate Monitor

Heart Rate Monitor Running Diary – Week Two (Part 3)

It didn’t take too long before I found out the reason why I had to run slower during my last run.  That same evening I could feel that I was coming down with a cold.  This is the price I have to pay for having two toddlers that bring home a cocktail selection of the latest bugs that are doing the rounds.

So, the good news is that the poor performance did have a good reason after all.  The bad news will be if the cold gets bad enough to stop my training in its tracks, though hopefully it won’t come to that.

Technorati Tags: Heart Rate Monitor, heart rate monitor running, Running Diary, Running Plan, Running Program, Womens Heart Rate Monitor

Heart Rate Monitor Running Diary – Week Two (Part 2)

I started the run on day four at 5.8mph. I reached my recovery ceiling before I had covered a half-mile, so I will not be increasing the starting speed again next time. I never increase my starting speed unless I can cover at least 0.5 miles without having to drop the speed. It’s a personal thing – not science.

My first mile was completed in 10:47, which was a little faster than on day two, but this was a hollow victory. All of the subsequent miles were slower and I finished at only 4.2mph. The split times were 10:47, 22:29, 35:18 and 49:18. Ultimately this was almost a minute slower, which was disappointing.

I don’t believe that the overall result was due to starting too fast. Four miles is far enough not to be affected by a short burst during the early run. I know from experience that anomalies happen in any training program, and this may be one of those anomalies. Or perhaps it was my previous run that was the “blip”. You can send yourself mad trying to analyze what went “wrong” sometimes, so there’s little point in trying to figure it out unless it’s part of a broader trend.

All being well, my next run will be five miles and will also commence at 5.8mph.

You can follow my progress in the Women’s Heart Rate Monitor blog.

I am also planning some more articles, so feel free to let me know if there are any related subjects you would like to see covered.

Technorati Tags: Heart Rate Monitor, heart rate monitor running, Running Diary, Running Plan, Running Program, Womens Heart Rate Monitor

Heart Rate Monitor Running Diary – Week Two (Part 1)

One thing I didn’t mention in my previous diary articles was what I drink during my training. The simple answer is water. Plain water – nothing fancy. There is no need for Gatorade, Isotonic Drinks, Carbo Gels or any other other aids during runs of this length. I’ll cover how and when I do use these as my training progresses.

Also, I tend to drink more when I am treadmill training. I have a bottle of water to hand and take regular sips throughout the run. On average, I take a mouthful or two of water at approximately mile intervals during these runs. However, I find that on outdoor runs of less than an hour, I seldom feel the need for any liquid refreshment at all (assuming I’m adequately hydrated before setting out on the run).

I started the second week with a three mile run on a flat treadmill (0.0 incline), sticking to the principles of heart monitor training outlined in week one. I began at a slightly higher pace of 5.5mph and made reductions when necessary, finishing the run at 4.4mph. My split times for each mile were 11:03, 22:54 and 35:48, which was an improvement.

The following day I ran four miles, following the same pattern. My split times were 10:56, 22:24, 34:55, and 48:23. I was holding my pace well during the first three miles, but had to reduce speed a bit faster in the final mile. However, I still finished at 4.3mph and was nearly a minute-and-a-half faster than my previous four mile run. While the improvements are being made at this rate, I am happy to stick to the program and continue with straightforward recovery runs.

Day three will be a rest day, so I’ll report back in two or three days with more updates on the Women’s Heart Rate Monitor blog.

Technorati Tags: Heart Rate Monitor, heart rate monitor running, Running Diary, Running Plan, Running Program, Womens Heart Rate Monitor

Heart Monitor Running Diary – Week One (Days 6 and 7) with summary

As planned, day five was a rest day.

Day six was my final training day in this first week and my longest run so far – four miles. Please remember that this is a comeback week after a lay-off. It is not a schedule I would recommend to someone who is just starting out with running. I intend to write some more beginner’s articles for the Women’s Heart Rate Monitor blog in the near future.

I started the run a little faster at 5.3mph. I maintained above 5mph throughout the first mile and clocked-in at 11:29. The temperature was much the same as on my previous run, so now I was getting a more direct comparison of my efforts.

I’m quite pleased with progress in this first week – following the initial dissapointment of the first run. The split times for each mile were 11:29, 23:26, 36:07, 49:47 and I finished the run at 4.3mph. My average heart rate was 150bpm. In a matter of only five days, my times have improved nicely throughout the run. I’m now running faster at the end of four miles than I was at the end of two miles earlier in the week.

Can you see how motivating this style of training can be? I am running with exactly the same amount of effort, and my speed has increased measurably. This has to be better than just turning up and going through the motions of running a fixed time or distance without really knowing whether fitness is improving, doesn’t it? Of course, you may personally experience slower or faster gains, but the point is that you will know that you are improving and that the effort is worthwhile. This is exactly what turned me into a person that enjoys running.

Day seven was another rest day, so here’s a summary of the first week of training.

Technorati Tags: Heart Rate Monitor, heart rate monitor running, Running Diary, Running Plan, Running Program, Womens Heart Rate Monitor

Heart Monitor Running Diary – Week One (Days 2 to 5)

I planned a three mile run for my second day of training.

After having established my true (un)fitness level the previous day, I started the treadmill at a more realistic 5mph and allowed my heart rate to more gradually climb to my recovery ceiling. I started to drop the speed from around 0.75 miles into the run, but at a less dramatic rate than before.

My first two miles were 12:04 and 25:09 respectively, meaning that I was just over a minute-and-a-half faster to the two mile mark. My body was starting to adapt to training again. During the third mile I had to reduce my speed more frequently (using the technique I described in my previous article) and ended the run slowly at 3.8mph. My time for three miles was 40:36.

Day three was a rest day.

Day four was scheduled for another three mile run at recovery pace, following exactly the same principles as my earlier runs and starting at 5mph. I didn’t have to reduce my speed at all in the first mile, so it took 12:00 minutes exactly. I will increase my starting speed for my next run by a few tenths, since I am happy to reach my recovery ceiling sooner.

My times at the end of each mile split were 12:00, 24:16 and 37:27. So my three mile time was a full three minutes faster than on my previous run. If only progress was always that easy! I should point out that the weather was somewhat cooler today, so that will account for part of the improvement. My experience is that the heart works harder and does impact the timings on hot days. I’ll get a better idea how I’m progressing when the temperature settles down.

I’m planning a rest day for day five, followed by a four mile run on day six.

You can follow my progress on the Women’s Heart Rate Monitor blog.

Technorati Tags: Heart Rate Monitor, heart rate monitor running, Running Diary, Running Plan, Running Program, Womens Heart Rate Monitor

Women’s Heart Rate Monitor – No Place For Ego

Recovery Run – Method

I’ve previously determined my heart rate recovery ceiling to be 153bpm (beats per minute). I monitor my heart rate throughout the run and when it reaches 154bpm, I immediately reduce my speed by 0.1mph. If it does not reduce to 153 or lower within ten seconds, then I reduce by another 0.1mph. In the early stage of the run, this process may be required in fairly rapid successions – particularly if I have started out too fast, like I did today. I may find that my heart rate still climbs after reducing my speed by 0.1mph, so I will drop it 0.2mph or more to quickly get back below my recovery ceiling. Sometimes my heart rate may drop to 151bpm or lower, in which case I’ll increase speed by 0.1mph increments to get back up to 152/153bpm. So as you can see, I’m looking to be training as near as possible to my recovery ceiling without going over. This process is easier to carry out on a treadmill, but the principle is the same when running outside. As the run progresses and as fitness improves, the process of reducing the speed becomes less frequent.

The First (comeback) Run

To kick-off my new training routine I decided to limit myself to two miles. This was a recovery run on a treadmill with no incline. The idea was simply to assess my current level of fitness (or lack thereof) and help me to set my level of training for the forthcoming week.

As I mentioned in my previous article, the brain is more ready for returning to training than the body. I started off at what I thought was a conservative pace of 6mph. However, I reached my heart rate recovery ceiling within just a couple of minutes and had to reduce the pace quite rapidly to 5mph and then gradually lower during the remainder of the run. I dragged my sorry ass in at 3.9mph at the end of the run. It was a humbling reminder that a heart rate monitor accurately measures how the heart responds to exercise, and the heart does not lie about the fitness level. Heart monitor training has no place for ego.

Today, my first mile was completed in 12:17, and my time for two miles was 26:44. My peak heart rate was 153bpm and averaged 151bpm. To put this in perspective, the final two miles of my marathon were completed more than three minutes faster than this!

After my target distance was completed I cooled-down by walking for five minutes, allowing my heart rate to slow down gradually. My lower back had ached during the run, so I did a post-run back stretch that I had been shown by a physiotherapist. This is performed by laying on the floor, then drawing the knees up to the chest into the foetal position. A gentle rocking motion aids the stretch.

It would be easy to dwell on the negative, but this is where keeping records can help the motivation. I could see a previous time in my training diary where I had missed training for two months, and I had a similar dramatic drop in fitness. Knowing that I successfully recovered from a very similar set-back in the past means that I am easily able to look beyond my current situation to where I will be in the coming months, as long as I follow structured training and remain patient.

Day One training was now complete, and I’m happy to say I was immediately looking forward to the next session. That’s exactly how it should be.

You can follow my progress on the Women’s Heart Rate Monitor blog.

Technorati Tags: Heart Rate Monitor, heart rate monitor running, Running Diary, Running Plan, Running Program, Womens Heart Rate Monitor

Women’s Heart Rate Monitor – Restarting training after a lay-off

I’ve been harbouring a little secret since starting the Women’s Heart Rate Monitor blog – I have not been actively training for the last couple of months. After initially suffering a recurrence of a lower back injury, I had to stop because the running appeared to be aggravating the problem. To be honest, though, this only really prevented me from being able to run for a couple of weeks. The rest of the time has been procrastination!

I think, part of my reason for starting this blog was to get back my enthusiasm that frankly did wane. I ran my first marathon this year and my training has just not quite felt the same since. Post-marathon blues? Maybe. Lack of a new challenge following the marathon? Probably. Other priorities that had been put on ice while training for the marathon? Check.

Anyway, thanks to starting this blog I’m all fired up and ready to go again. Which is a perfect opportunity to discuss how to use the Heart Rate Monitor to re-start training after an extended lay-off (say, more than a month or two without training).

The point of training at this point in time is to get ready for training. The brain may be ready for hard training, but the body is not! Rather than dive-in to a twelve week schedule to run a race, for example, it makes sense to add on several more weeks to build-up to a reasonable base mileage. Temper the enthusiasm a bit to avoid unnecessary illness or injury through over-training.

Anybody that has returned to training with a heart rate monitor after a lay-off will know that it can be quite shocking how much cardio fitness is lost over a relatively short period of times. According to Bob Glover in The Runner’s Handbook:

“In general, your body builds fitness slowly and loses it rapidly: It takes three times as long to gain aerobic endurance as it does to lose it. With complete inactivity, aerobic fitness may decline almost 10 percent per week.”

Thus, I would suggest that it’s prudent to restart with no more than half the amount of mileage that was regularly performed before the lay-off, and possibly even less.

My weekly mileage was 35 to 45 miles in the run-up to the marathon, but then fell back to a more manageable 25 to 28 miles in the next couple of months. So my plan will be to run around 12 to 14 miles in the first week, then build-up from there.

My typical week consisted of six days of running: one or two “hard” sessions, with four recovery sessions and one complete day of rest. I’ll work up to this level again, but will start my first week with three complete rest days.

So, for this week, my plan is to run on four days for two to four miles, with three rest days. All of the runs will be at recovery rate Needless to say I will be using my Heart Rate Monitor to ensure that I stay below my seventy per-cent recovery ceiling.

I’ll post more details in the blog as I progress. So, if you are considering returning to running – why not join me (in the virtual sense)? Perhaps we can inspire each other to reach new heights!

In this new series of articles and updates for Women’s Heart Rate Monitor, I’ll show you how I apply the principles of Heart Monitor Training to plan and implement a structured training schedule. You will see first-hand how I progress over time.

Technorati Tags: Heart Rate Monitor, Running Plan, Running Program, Womens Heart Rate Monitor

Running Program Part Three – Basic Record Keeping

In part two of my series of articles for Women’s Heart Rate Monitor, I explained my reasoning behind the importance of keeping records. Now I will expand a little on the key records that I keep.

To start with, I like to keep a record of factual data that can be measured and easily quantified. The reason for this is simply that I am never in doubt that I am comparing like-for-like. The facts are indisputable. Perhaps one year ago I ran three miles in forty minutes at my recovery pace heart rate, and now I can run three miles in thirty minutes at the same heart rate. The progress is measured and can be compared directly.

I like to do measured runs on a treadmill for the most direct comparison, because this eliminates variables such as the weather and different running terrain. Typical figures I like to keep as a minimum are:

• Date of the run 
• Brief Description – e.g. 3 mile @ 70% MHR (recovery heart rate), 1.5% treadmill incline  
• Total Distance  
• Total Time Taken  
• Average Heart Rate  
• Peak Heart Rate

For longer runs, I also like to note my heart rate at each mile split. Very often there is a linear progression of improvement which relates to the quality of the training I have done. I can compare my progress in my current training cycle and adjust my goals accordingly.

I try not to include too much detail, as this would not benefit making comparisons. However, I do make extra notes in exceptional circumstances, such as a sub-par performance due to extenuating factors. The more factual the records, the more meaningful it is when making plans based on past performance.

Depending on your own goals, you may think of other things that you want to record. If you have a goal to lose weight, then clearly it makes sense to occasionally check your weight and/or body fat percentage. Whatever it takes to motivate and inspire when the inevitable “flat” periods arise.

When choosing a Heart Rate Monitor, it is a very good idea to go for a model that includes a “lap” counter. This helps to ensure that heart rate and times are accurately recorded for each split. Although not necessary when you are starting out and perhaps only run one or two miles, the feature becomes much more useful as mileage increases.

On a final note, I should mention that some heart rate monitors, such as the Garmin FR60 Women’s Heart Rate Monitor that I recently reviewed, have the ability to store data about the run and transfer it to a PC (or Mac) for analysis and review. This can make record keeping a snap and can provide a more thorough analysis of the run. However, I tend to refer to my own records that I keep on a simple spreadsheet. However you prefer to keep records, be it computerised or using a good old-fashioned notebook, start sooner rather than later. You will be glad you did!

Technorati Tags: Heart Rate Monitor, Running Plan, Running Program, Womens Heart Rate Monitor