05-04-2012, 11:42 AM
TheEd Wrote:what must be realised is that you are all new to the cycles and whereas 140 may seem slow for some there is a major reason to the session for long-term development
and with the development, the athlete doesn't even concern themselves with the 140bpm during the session as their overall pace per km has improved, even though this would have been considered quite slow previously.
the rule of thumb focused on easy runs at 1 minute per k slower than current 10k pace .. for the 90 minutes and longer we added to 20 to 30 seconds per k for good measure
Hey TheEd...I think I understand what you're saying.
In my case, 140bpm no longer feels slow. I suspect it might be the right number for me. Though, when i first started running about a little over a year ago, 140bpm would have had me running really slow...barely a run. At the time, I was reading recommendations of 70% of my max heart rate, which suggested even lower 135 and down, and that was impossible for me to do and still actually be running. hehe...quite sad at the time.
What I'm wondering though, for Dale, his MAX heart rate appears to be higher than mine...so recommending 140bpm for him AND me seems incorrect.
However, the 1minute/km slower than 10k race pace...that seems much more definitive. In my case, I'm not sure what my 10k race pace is...though, I'm hoping to prove its <4:00/min next week. In my easy runs now, i'm running about 4:54-5:02/km to start, though in order to keep my pulse from going over 140, I do have to bump the speed down the longer I run.
So in summary, the 1min slower test seems to be pretty good for me as far as hitting 140bpm...but I'm prioritizing my heart rate over my pace, and slowing down to keep it at 140bpm. Is this correct? Or phrased another way...is this ideal? Its obviously not horrible...hehe...I'm still making progress. But I am really interested in what is considered the absolute best use of my training time.
Dale - what is your current 10k pace? If you back that off by 1minute/km, and go on a now 'easy' 10k run, how does your heart rate look over the course of it? Maybe try my strategy...start at that pace, then dial back the speed slightly as your heart rate bumps up against your target...?
(what that target is...be it 140...or maybe higher based on our HR differences...is still in question?)
Regards,