sp

Heart Rate Training and pace

by Ross
(Australia)

Heart rate training and pace :

"Hi Marius, I done my schedule 10 K today,and ran it by pace. I always find that my heart rate is way higher than the corresponding Zone pace. During the 10 k it averaged 187. I felt fine all the way through, and it dropped below 100 within 3-4 min after the race. Is this ok? my rate max is about 206 when I really push hard up a hill. I am using top of the line Garmin training gear, so I am pretty sure it is accurate. (I am 37)"

Answer Hi Ross and thanks for the question. This is no worry at all - you are spot on. Like I've explained in previous questions, just stick to heart rate OR pace - do not get fixed with comparing the two. Just make sure that you pick one of the two. That way the interval variation gets right. If you like running with heart rate, then this is the preferred of these options!

I wish you all the best with your training and upcoming races.

Kind regards,
Marius

Back from heart rate training and pace to marathon training schedule

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Marathon Pace and Heart Rate Training
.

Marathon targeted heart rate vs. pace/km

by Francis
(Toronto)

Heart rate and pace :

"Hi Marius,
I am a 40+ runner coming out of my 4-year hiatus. I have been training for about a month before I came across your 100-day plan. I want to be able to follow your sub 2:45 marathon schedule, as this is my target. However, I realise that my heart rate and pace/km do not fall within the zones as described. For example, zone 1 indicates easy run with a heart rate of 114-137. This will be the equivalent of running at 4:45/km. In order to stay within the zone 1 heart rate, I find that I have to slow down to 5:50/km. Can you please help me understand how I ought to work this out. 2:45 for the marathon is my target for September 2011.

Thanks,
Francis"

Answer: Hi Francis, as I've answered this question a few times before, let me give you the link to those answers. It is all expained in those :

Heart rate and pace 1
Heart rate and pace 2
Heart Rate and Pace 3

I your case, you may want to to start off at a slower schedule then change on the way (say start with the 3:15 or 3:30 , then switch to the 2:45 later) since 1 min off pr km for zone 1 is too much difference, if we consider your current shape vs. a 2:45 schedule.

I wish you all the best with your training,

kind regards,
Marius

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Marathon Pace and Heart Rate Training
.

Heart Rate or Pace Times?

by Ruben
(Laredo,Texas,USA)

Heart rate or pace time in the marathon training:

"I am currently using your 3:15 plan, I did the first intro weeks using my heart rate monitor to train. Now I'm on my first week of marathon training, during the hard sessions, I found that I have to pace faster than my training sessions should be just to hit my target heart rates for efforts 3 and 4.

Should I push myself to get to the target heart rates or should I train the hard sessions using calculated pace times? When I did one workout based on pace it seemed more realistic but my heart rate was on the no mans land zone. Need help coach.

Thanks, Ruben"

Answer: Thanks for the question, Ruben. The pace is an approximate figure and it will vary from runner to runner so I recommend you stick to your heart rate monitor if you are comfortable with using that during your workouts !

The reason why the pace seems "slower" is that it is better to run "holding back" abit versus pushing too hard. Some runners starting these plans will not be in 100% shape when they attack them - therefore, to make a "universal" pace according to heart rate I had to make this pace conservatively. Having said that, running at that pace will still help you reach your goal - one of the main keys to this is the overall composition of the trainig which will be the same if you run pace or with heart rate.

But to make it short - stick to heart rate if you are comfortable with this!

Kind regards,
Marius

Back from Heart Rate or Pace Times to Marathon Training Schedule

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Marathon Pace and Heart Rate Training
.

Marathon pacing adjustments

by Pat Wheeler
(Denver, CO)

Marathon pace adjustments based on the half marathon :

"Hi Marius,
I'm on week 12 of the 3:15 plan and just set a new PR in the half last week. My previous best half time was 1:49 about 9 months ago and I was able to do last weeks in 1:32. I'm a big fan of your training program, it has really enabled me to make significant improvement in a very short amount of time. The variability is fantastic and I always look forward to the weekly training runs.

I do have concerns regarding the marathon pace though as my half marathon effort was all out with pretty ideal conditions. I felt pretty good throughout and was able to run it with a slight negative split (-1%) but when I subsequently downloaded my watch I notice that my heart rate was really high throughout and towards the end of the race it hit 92% of max (~170 beats w/ max of 183). My lactate threshold is in the low 160s so my concern is that I won't be able to sustain a race pace that is only 35 seconds/mile slower than the half marathon. Would you make any marathon pacing adjustments given that information?

Best,
Pat"

Answer:>/b>Hi Pat, and first of all : congratulations on a huge PR in the half marathon!

In terms of your marathon : I would be really strict and place your half marathon time into the marathon pace calculator in the 100 day plan. And do not worry about heart rate at all. Take the time that comes out there and obey it at least until the 25 km of the marathon. IF you feel great at this point you can slightly increase the pace up to 30-35 km and if it still feels great at 35, really go for it the last 7km.

In either way, base your marathon time on that half marathon - and no worries about heart rate (see my post about cardiac drift and this may be a reason for your above experience, combined with race day factors)

I wish you all the best,

kind regards,
Marius

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Marathon Pace and Heart Rate Training
.

Pace and Heartrate

by Geir Andersen
(Norway)

Heart rate and pace :

"Hello Marius..

I have just started the 100 Day Marathon Plan and I'm a little confused about the scheduele. I run by heart rate and when should run with Effort 4 Ishould have a heart rate between 160 - 170 and thats ok, but when i look at the scheduele and i want to keep the pace also it says 5:12 pr km. But when i reach between 160 - 170 in heartrate i'm running 4:00 pr km?? Should follow the heartrate and pay no attention to the pace or should I run slower and follow the pace. That for me will be two different workouts. I'm running on a treadmill, because it's winter now in Norway."

Answer: Hi Geir, and thanks for your question.

If you look through some of the previously answered questions or use the search above, you'll find this answered there. The most summed up one you'll find right here : Heart rate vs pace That article, answered last week also has severa links going to previous answers in that direction.

I hope this clears this out.

I wish you all the best with your training,

Kind regards,
Marius

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Marathon Pace and Heart Rate Training
.

Heart Rate or Pace Times? Which to use

by Ruben
(Laredo,Texas,USA)

Marius, I quess my quetion was not clear. The situation I am having is when I am using my heart rate as a guide for my efforts 3 and above, my pace seems too fast and I become exhausted when finishing the work out. So I switched to pace recommendations for efforts 3 and above, which seems more comfortable yet my heart rate at this comfortable rates stays around effort 2 levels, a rate not recommended for training.

Thanks, Ruben

Answer : See my answer within your comment to your previous question about heart rate and pace !

Kind regards,
Marius

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Marathon Pace and Heart Rate Training
.

Heart rate versus pace

by Axel
(Trondheim)

Heart rate versus pace training in the marathon and the 100 day marathon plan in particular.

"Hi Marius,

I am about to start your 3:30 program and tested some workouts over the last few months (3 times a week). I enjoy monitoring heart rate and pace for motivation and like your tables that follow each schedule that relate HR to pace for the different efforts.

I assume that these tables are meant for a training state that is first reached shortly before racing?

Now, my values do not really fit any table. Looking at the table coming with the 3:30 schedule (my max HR is 188): When going at effort 4 I run faster than the suggested 4:28 per km, but when going at effort 2, I slow down to about 5:40. Hitting effort 1 is not easy at all as my HR goes quickly over 137 at paces below 6:00.

Is that a sign of wrong training so far or bad shape or is it simply my physics?

Thanks for your answer! Axel"

Answer Hi Axel, thanks for your question - and this is a very important one.

To train runners with pace throughout a training period is very difficult - and the reason is what you say above : it obviously depends on the training state before starting the schedule as well as the progress on the way.

The reason why I still placed pace in there is to give approximate figures, that are most important relative to eachother. Meaning, you can see the difference in pace between say Effort 1 and Effort 3 that should always be around this difference (say 4:30/km for Effort 1, but 3:30 for Effort 3)

However, I recommend you use Effort or a Heart Rate monitor if you have access to this. It is much more accurate and it will "keep up" with you as you go along in the training.

The calculation of pace itself is set to around 4-6 weeks before the marathon. For some, this is a match right from the start of the 100 day marathon plan - for others they will have to build into this. But either way, with Effort or Heart Rate you can solve this and just work through this.

Hope this cleared things out a bit!

Wish you all the best with your training.

regards,
Marius

Back from Heart Rate versus Pace to Marathon Training Schedule

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Marathon Pace and Heart Rate Training
.



footer