A couple of weeks back, I raced my first 70.3, and my heart rate during the run portion was higher than my usual long-run heart rate. On a normal zone two long run, my heart race is ~130 (pace 5:30 per km). During the race, my heart rate was 148 (pace 5:30 per km).
I’ve been doing zone two training for about two years and followed an 80/20 training plan leading into the race. I trained about 10 - 13 hours a week.
I took in approximately 200 calories an hour on the bike (a combination of Mautren gels, Clif, and Waffles), along with 1.5 litres of liquid (750 plain water and 750 ml of Precision Hydration 1000). I continued to have gels on the run, carrying a 500 ml bottle (which I finished) on the run while taking water from each aid station.
I have a full Ironman in August, and I’d like to avoid having my heart rate start so high on the run. I had more pace in my legs but no heart rate left to push the pace (my FTHR is 151).
Any suggestions of how I can sort out my heart rate and keep it lower during the run leg?
My two cents…. Heart rate is not the best metric as it varies for so many reasons:
Your zone 2 long runs don’t have a swim and a bike in front of it like a race. By the run, your heart rate is dealing with a cumulative impact of the previous legs of the race. I would look first at how you rode the bike and ask if you pushed to hard.
Sleep, nutrition leading into the race, and a million other factors will make it vary
Temperature variations
And the list goes on and on.
During a race, I would be more in tune with perceived exertion and how you feel and not focused so much on heart rate.
What do you mean by this “I had more pace in my legs but no heart rate left to push the pace (my FTHR is 151).”? You could have run faster but you didn’t want to because your HR wasn’t within your target range?
My racing HR is almost always higher than my training HR. I believe during my training weeks my HR gets suppressed and it is much harder to hit my upper HR ranges. With race nerves, some dehydration and pretty high caffeine intake my HR is elevated compared to normal training.
As others have said HR drifts upwards during the run. My concern without knowing more is calories and hydration….if you look closely your 200 an hour is likely 150 calories of carbohydrates.
We can get away with some mistakes in a half but 150-200 on the bike is a very long walk in August.
More info needed though, height, weight, bike power, swim time. Run-current speed on 5-10km, overall weekly volume.
What was the temperature and humidity during the run in your race compared to your typical training runs? HIM runs typically start later 8n the day than people train, so the conditions are often worse. That accounts for a few bpm. The other factor that it is normal to have higher HR on the run after you biked for a few hours.
What do you expect? That your HR is the same for the same 5:30 pace without swimming and biking beforehand and with swimming and biking beforehand?
Exactly this. Much like if you doubled your training long run you’d see your heart rate rise for the same pace once you reached the limits of your current endurance. HR needs to be monitored with pace and RPE, or power and RPE on the bike, not as an exclusive guide to pacing.
What do you mean by this “I had more pace in my legs but no heart rate left to push the pace (my FTHR is 151).”? You could have run faster but you didn’t want to because your HR wasn’t within your target range?
My racing HR is almost always higher than my training HR. I believe during my training weeks my HR gets suppressed and it is much harder to hit my upper HR ranges. With race nerves, some dehydration and pretty high caffeine intake my HR is elevated compared to normal training.
I’d also like to hear what the OP meant by the quoted portion.
I experience the same thing as you do between training and racing.
To clarify, I was hoping my HR would stay lower during the run so that I could give a tempo effort at the end of the half marathon. Typically, I can run at 4:30 with a HR of 150. But, because of my high HR during the race, I couldn’t run faster since I was already at my upper limit of HR.
I wasn’t worried about staying within a particular zone or pace. I relied on my perceived effort to guide my pace. I could still run faster, but the perceived effort felt WAY higher than the pace I was holding. So I stuck with my usual pace.
I appreciate that the swim and bike could add to the body. I have run marathon’s in the past (~4 hours), but I didn’t see any difference between my training HR and race HR. So this experience was new to me… but I guess this sort of thing is to be expected?
A couple of weeks back, I raced my first 70.3, and my heart rate during the run portion was higher than my usual long-run heart rate. On a normal zone two long run, my heart race is ~130 (pace 5:30 per km). During the race, my heart rate was 148 (pace 5:30 per km).
I’ve been doing zone two training for about two years and followed an 80/20 training plan leading into the race. I trained about 10 - 13 hours a week.
I took in approximately 200 calories an hour on the bike (a combination of Mautren gels, Clif, and Waffles), along with 1.5 litres of liquid (750 plain water and 750 ml of Precision Hydration 1000). I continued to have gels on the run, carrying a 500 ml bottle (which I finished) on the run while taking water from each aid station.
I have a full Ironman in August, and I’d like to avoid having my heart rate start so high on the run. I had more pace in my legs but no heart rate left to push the pace (my FTHR is 151).
Any suggestions of how I can sort out my heart rate and keep it lower during the run leg?
Thanks in advance.
It makes sense your HR will be higher and your perceived effort higher on the run after you’ve smashed out a race pace swim and cycle (vs. a run on fresh legs).
It looks high level like you’ve taken a sensible approach to training and fueling.
My pseudo scientific view (anyone feel free to correct me) is that you will always have a limiter on the run, either aerobic capacity / hamstring fatigue / quads fatigue / hip fatigue / everything fatigue. Generally I suspect the limiting factor for most amateurs in middle / long distance / stand alone marathon participants is fatigue.
If your limiter is aerobic capacity / heart rate and you feel rough whilst running 5.30/km in a half ironman, it makes me think you just need to get fitter in order to increase your speed at the equivalent heart rate or decrease your heart rate at the same speed.
Same for me. My heart rate is 10 beats higher at the same effort on race day. Usually it’s due to extra excitement and anxiousness of racing.
Learn to ignore the heart rate and use pace/power in combination with RPE. If you feel good then why slow down just because your heart rate number is higher than normal?
The experience was all completely new to me. And I think piratetri said it right with
If you feel good then why slow down just because your heart rate number is higher than normal?
I also heard on a podcast that a rested heart will beat faster than tired heart. So perhaps, after the taper, I came in with an elevated heartrate.
The experience was all completely new to me. And I think piratetri said it right with
If you feel good then why slow down just because your heart rate number is higher than normal?
I also heard on a podcast that a rested heart will beat faster than tired heart. So perhaps, after the taper, I came in with an elevated heartrate.
When you do high volume aerobic training, your heart rate will be suppressed. As said above, you can get to a point where you can’t push HR up even on high-intensity sessions.
When I’m peaking for a race I could get to “negative HR decoupling” (probably there’s a better term for that) where my HR will actually drop over a long endurance ride with constant powerr.
When you taper for a week or two, you can expect higher hr.
This is just one factor, in addition to everything else said here
I also heard on a podcast that a rested heart will beat faster than tired heart.
I’ve heard this passed around a lot recently and would love to see some convincing data or a solid proposed mechanism for this.
Interesting to hear that this theory my be spurious. Anyone have more info they can share?
I was taught directly the opposite in my undergrad and graduate education, but have never deeply investigated. So I’ll make no claims on my personal stance yet.
However, I can name at least one mechanism for why the “rested RHR > fatigued RHR” claim might be caused by something other than fatigue vs. rest status. Hint: blood volume.
I’ll take no stance for now, but would love to see literature if folks have any handy.
Your HR is elevated at that stage of the run because you’re fatigued. Assuming you’re well hydrated and well fueled, you’d be looking at central fatigue (versus peripheral fatigue like a glycogen bonk). I believe central fatigue has to do with nerve pathways not operating optimally. Specifically regarding heart rate…
Your right ventricle (the one that pushes deoxygenated blood into the lungs) fatigues after prolonged exercise and your HR increases to compensate for the decreased efficiency. Same work output, higher HR to maintain it. Dr. William Cornwell at the UCHealth Anschutz Medical Campus in Colorado is currently doing some groundbreaking work studying this in endurance athletes.* Once you reach the point where your HR is compensating for decreased cardiac output, you’re not going to have much luck pushing the pace. Some athletes are more or less impacted by this kind of fatigue. “Fatigue resistance” is kind of a nebulous term. Since fatigue resistance involves nerve functionality, it seems a lot is not fully understood about it.
*I’m not a cardiologist or a doctor. But this was explained to me by one.
Attached are some pressure-volume graphs of right ventricle activity during exercise from the heart study. Notice the dramatic shift between 2 and 3 hours.
This whole thread I’ve been reading Racing Heart Rate as Resting Heart Rate. Funny… I was just thinking about making my first optometrist appointment in a while. Guess I’ll make the call.
I’m sorry everyone. I rescind all previous statements.
