I have taken about a year off from training due to life cirumstances. Now that I am back on the road I cannot get my running HR less than 80-85% unless I “run” greater than 13 min/mile. I used to run a 8-9 min/mile.
Can anybody suggest what I may need to do to fix my situation? Thanks.
I’m not a coach buuuuuuut, if you took a year off, I’d say you lost a lot of fitness. Put simply, just keep running and you should see HR and pace going in the right direction. Good luck.
“I have taken about a year off from training due to life cirumstances. Now that I am back on the road I cannot get my running HR less than 80-85% unless I “run” greater than 13 min/mile. I used to run a 8-9 min/mile.”
So what you are saying (as I can tell) is that your HR is too high until you run a slower pace, and then you fall into a slower HR?
You didn’t give enough information… How long have you been ‘back on the road’? How stressful is your life right now? Are you getting back into s/b/r all at once – or are you starting with running, and this is what you are asking about?
The questions I asked were important, because I asked about your deconditioned status --and how long you’ve been training once you’ve returned. If you haven’t tried to train for very long in this returned state, your body may take a while to return to the last conditioned state. Additionally, if you are trying to immediately jump back into all 3 sports, your body may be stressing – and I also asked about the other stress in your life.
If you haven’t trained in about a year, maybe you ate wrong also, it may take a while to come back into condition. (Many people find that even 1-2 weeks off from a simple illness can play havoc with endurance and HR). If you are concerned that you aren’t just bouncing back from your year off – face the fact that you may have to apply the principles of a beginner, and simply watch your progress carefully. You may progress faster than a beginner, because your body had already created physiological changes from previous training. But no one can bound right back into previous training levels – that’s one reason why it takes a body time to peak even during a training year.
As for advice:
Just train. “Deal with it”. Accept that you have deconditioned and you may have to start back with a beginner-plan for a while. If you are still in a stressful life situation, you should consider how to mitigate your personal factors to reduce the stress (stress includes the stress hormones rushing around in your body, making destructive movements), as this stress will keep you from recovering from each workout. If you haven’t been eating soundly, start eating healthfully: sugars and other bad-habit foods can also keep you from progressing efficiently.
My humble opinion,
Lauren
cowtippers,
I’ll start by welcoming you back “to the road.” I’m happy for you that you have the time to start running again. That’s great!
I am not a coach. Not even close. But reading what the others wrote, I think they are all heading in the right direction for you. Fitnesscoach is especially correct when she says you didn’t provide quite enough information to give an accurate answer for you. So much has probably changed for you in the past year, not to mention that you are a year older.
One thing that stands out is that you say 80%-85% HR. Is that 80%-85% of your max from when you were training last year? Or is that a more current figure?
I like the idea of putting yourself through a beginners-type program. I think that you will rather quickly get back to where you were. It will require more patience, but in the long run you will be better off.
Good luck.
Bernie
Give it time! You cannot be at a relaxed heart rate running at a high pace unless you have trained at that pace for a long time. Having said that…you have been off training for a long time. I would say that right now you need to concentrate on only running 3-4 times a wk. and allowing your body to recover and adapt. Just run! Heart rate really doesn’t matter anyway. If you are running, you are burning calories and doing just fine.
Thanks for the great reply - some answers to your questions below…
So what you are saying (as I can tell) is that your HR is too high until you run a slower pace, and then you fall into a slower HR? Yes, that is the problem. Really, as soon as I start running my HR shoots way up and won’t fall unless I take a walking pace.
You didn’t give enough information… How long have you been ‘back on the road’? How stressful is your life right now? Are you getting back into s/b/r all at once – or are you starting with running, and this is what you are asking about? Well, I haven’t exactly been sedentary but I haven’t been “training”. I move three times this year (big moves) but did manage to ride 80-100 miles a week this summer. Last real event was in January (Half Marathon). Stress level is quite high actually right now (work and home).
The questions I asked were important, because I asked about your deconditioned status --and how long you’ve been training once you’ve returned. If you haven’t tried to train for very long in this returned state, your body may take a while to return to the last conditioned state. Additionally, if you are trying to immediately jump back into all 3 sports, your body may be stressing – and I also asked about the other stress in your life.
If you haven’t trained in about a year, maybe you ate wrong also **Oh yes, without a doubt. **, it may take a while to come back into condition. (Many people find that even 1-2 weeks off from a simple illness can play havoc with endurance and HR). If you are concerned that you aren’t just bouncing back from your year off – face the fact that you may have to apply the principles of a beginner, and simply watch your progress carefully. You may progress faster than a beginner, because your body had already created physiological changes from previous training. But no one can bound right back into previous training levels – that’s one reason why it takes a body time to peak even during a training year.
I guess what I want to know is how can I train effectively if I cannot remain in an aerobic state? Should I just run at normal pace and wait for the HR to get itself back down to a normal aerobic level? I’m confused how to get started. For example if I have a run on my program that states “Steady endurance run holding HR under 75%”. Should I “run” at 14-minute miles or should I hold normal pace and HR will train itself back down? If I run at 80-90% I am not really training for an endurance event since I will be anerobic?
Targets this year are a 70.3 (June) and a 140.6 (August).
As for advice:
Just train. “Deal with it”. Accept that you have deconditioned and you may have to start back with a beginner-plan for a while. If you are still in a stressful life situation, you should consider how to mitigate your personal factors to reduce the stress (stress includes the stress hormones rushing around in your body, making destructive movements), as this stress will keep you from recovering from each workout. If you haven’t been eating soundly, start eating healthfully: sugars and other bad-habit foods can also keep you from progressing efficiently.
Thanks for your time.
Mark.
“how can I train effectively if I cannot remain in an aerobic state? Should I just run at normal pace and wait for the HR to get itself back down to a normal aerobic level? I’m confused how to get started. For example if I have a run on my program that states “Steady endurance run holding HR under 75%”. Should I “run” at 14-minute miles or should I hold normal pace and HR will train itself back down? If I run at 80-90% I am not really training for an endurance event since I will be anerobic? Targets this year are a 70.3 (June) and a 140.6 (August).”
I hope you get answers from the tri coaches on this one. Since you have your race calendar set (B and A races, I presume), they will have to assist on how to come back. You are right: you had been doing some training, but stress (and/or other factors) does impact.
I can tell you that stress really does affect how your body responds to training, especially due to high stress at BOTH home and work, plus 3 big moves.
Did you run at all this summer, as well as ride?
I’m rather worried about your “HR shoots way up”. This seems a bit odd. You didn’t say your age or your physical fitness level. I’d be rather concerned to recommend any heavy training until you check out some of your health with a doctor (preferably a sports med doc? Especially one with triathlon experience?) and also a coach, with whom you can speak freely and privately-- not on a public forum.
This drive to get back into races is out of my element. If I were in this position, I wouldn’t be training for major races with such high stress; I’d instead opt for more fun races at a lower distance, and concentrate on getting back in endurance shape with an eye for “competitive vacations”. (But that’s just my own stance).
Please consider checking out that HR stuff.
Best,
Lauren
As for advice:
Just train. “Deal with it”. Accept that you have deconditioned…
“Deal with it” is a potentially dangerous piece of advice - one that kills people (think of the recent deaths of basketball and football players due to cardiac stress). With all due respect, personal trainers and coaches should not be offering advice on cardiac stress or issues relating to cardac physiology.
This is your heart…it’s not a bike part. If you think that something is not right about your heart rate, go to a medical professional. A coach or a personal trainer is NOT a medical professional, and they must understand their limits and abide within them. They are not health professionals, and do not have the necessary medical training, education, or professional accreditation to be dealing with issues of cardiac stress.
Before I offend coaches and personal trainers, let me tell you that I am both a personal trainer and coach, and as such I would never offer the advice to just deal with it, especially in an issue relating to cardiac stress. I have coached elite atheltes for 18 years, so I’m not a fly-by-night newbie coach by any standard. On the other hand, I am also a regulated health professional, and have the necessary professional designation and letters behind my name to deal with this. But, even as a health professional, I would still accept the limitations in my scope of practice, and would most likely be referring you to a specialist. In cases concerning the heart, that’s your professional obligation.
you might consider getting a physical from an MD
frequency first and then volume is the way to go
.
“If you think that something is not right about your heart rate, go to a medical professional.”
Hey, don’t worry – I did advise Cowtipper to go see a doctor (see my last post), hopefully a sports-med doc (not ortho) who knows about endurance athletes. This doc can send him to a cardiac specialist if necessary.
I also advised that he talk to a real coach who can help him devise a sensible plan, depending on what the doc says — not simply run off and create his own training because he wants to race a HIM and IM next summer, despite whatever current deconditioned state and/or medical issue he may be having.
Thanks for writing that. As a wellness coach, one thing I do is note when someone needs to talk to a professional.
“Deal with it”, in this case, MAY mean “accept that you can’t train the way you want to train, for a race that you want to race – right now”. It means accepting that you (he) is deconditioned and there may other medical issues occurring; we don’t know. We don’t know his resting HR, his weight, his real fitness level before a year-long layoff, his true current fitness level, the actual HR numbers “which shoot way up”. (What exactly is “My HR shoots way up”?) It’s important to understand one’s current fitness and medical condition - this is “deal with it”: accepting ‘what is’, working within that scope, without adding expectations of races unless all healthy steps are taken.
Lauren