Low Heart Rate Training isn't Working

for some Runners it feels like low heart rate training simply isn't working but there are a number of important aspects of your training that you really need to have covered to make sure that you can truly experience the benefits of running slow to run faster let's get started with one that so many Runners get wrong working with incorrect heart rate zones this is one of my biggest gripes about methods like methodone training which uses the simple formula of 180 minus your age to set your MAF threshold which you're not to cross when running at your aerobic training Zone in reality there's quite a bit of variation in heart rate zones from one Runner to another I'd much rather have you set your heart rate zones using your maximum and resting heart rates and the Covenant formula to figure out what 60 to 70 intensity looks like that way you'll have a better shot at running at the correct heart rate to be in your aerobic training Zone for example Matt was running using the MAF 180 minus age formula which has a 33 year old had him running trying to keep his heart rate under 147 beats per minute however with a relatively low maximum heart rate of 175 and resting heart rate of 45 beats per minute his 60 to 70 zone is looking more like 123 to 136 beats per minute that's a 10 beats per minute difference to what MAF would have had him running at so don't just blindly follow a generic age-based calculation the next thing to look at is your weekly training volume so that's your weekly running mileage or time spent running each week low heart rate training to build your aerobic base isn't just about running in the right heart rate zone but also about making sure you get enough of that running in the bank each week the beauty of running easy so long as you're running with good form is that it's much more gentle on your body meaning that you can push the mileage without quite such a risk of injury as usual so if you're currently doing a block of low heart rate training focused on running slow to run faster and it's not working you're not getting any faster in your aerobic heart rate zone consider whether it might make sense to add another easy paced run to your week or extend one or more of your weekly runs so that you increase your weekly mileage or time running but not by more than 10 percent in any one go Siobhan is a good example of this she'd been running three and a half hours per week consistently across four runs per week for 12 weeks but was getting frustrated about her lack of progress if anything she just felt like she was just slowly getting slower over the course of six weeks or so we gradually increased her weekly running time to four and a half hours which was the Catalyst needed to start developing her aerobic Energy System more effectively she went from running 11 minute miles to nine minute miles for the same efforts in one summer another thing that us Runners are often pretty terrible at is looking at our running and lifestyle holistically rather than viewing running in isolation from everything else we get up to from day to day I get it for lots of us myself included running is a form of Escape but the reality is that what happens in the non-running aspects of your life will directly impact your running this is even more true when you're trying to keep your heart rate low while you're running stress poor sleep caffeine consumption and general poor dietary choices can affect how your heart rate responds to exercise all of these different stress factors place your body in a chronic state of fight or flight and hamper your ability to burn fat for fuel as your body turns to carbohydrates as an easier source of fueling to keep you running I'm not saying you need to eliminate each of these issues from your life as there are usually more complex factors which have landed you in that situation in the first place but what if you manage to get an extra one-hour sleep every night by going to bed a little bit earlier you started to drink decaf coffee instead of caffeinated or you reduce the amount of processed foods you eat mid-week just a few small changes here and there can really change how your body turns food into energy and will revolutionize your running that's exactly what Andrew a 37 year old painter and decorated it he was training for his first marathon and was getting really frustrated with not seeing the progress in Pace that he expected despite all his training I asked him about his sleep and it turns out that he had a six-month-old baby at home at the time and that he was burning a candle at both ends with his marathon training trying to survive on three to five hours of sleep per night his body was constantly under a degree of duress and that's just through being a new dad let alone marathon training in reality sleep isn't something we could easily change for Andy but nutrition was we focused on getting him to eat more vegetables and non-processed foods and within a week or two he reported feeling much more energized and that his running was going really well which was obviously fantastic to hear similarly underlying health and medical conditions can affect your ability to run with a low heart rate if you're worried that your health might be affecting your running then please don't hesitate to go and see a doctor if you're following a running plan that calls for you to back off the training for a week every four weeks reducing your training load by 30 to 50 percent for that week then you're already doing one of the most important things you can do for your training if not then be sure to look at where you can every fourth or fifth week take a slightly easier training week so that your body can properly recover from the training of the weeks before and prepares to push hard again for the next week in truth it's those moments when we allow our bodies to relax that we actually get the time and energy for our body to heal properly adapt and become fitter for next time

Channel: James Dunne

Views: 83,497

Keywords: running, how to run faster, heart rate, low heart rate running, low heart rate training, running tips, marathon training, maffetone method, heart rate training, james dunne, heart rate zones, run slow to run faster, running slow to run faster, kineticrev, how to keep your heart rate low when running, how to lower heart rate while running

Id: B2UHd65y6I8

Length: 5min 56sec (356 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 03 2023