Hi, I am a reasonably fit 23 year old female. On an average week I do 4-5 sessions of sport. I have been running for a few months and looking to take part in a 10k race. However, I wear a Polar HR monitor and when running at an average speed of 10km/h my heart rate is between 174 and 180.
Do I have anything to worry about?
Answer by Dominique:
Hi Natasha, Thank you for your running training question. It is not easy to establish whether you do have a genuine reason to be worried about your heart rate.
Yes, it definitely seems a bit high. But keep in mind, everybody is different. Some people's heart rate is immediately high whenever they do something more than walking, for others it stays pretty low, no matter what they do.
However, what is the speed that you call "average"? Most of your running should be easy running, the pace at which you'd be able to have a conversation with someone. At this pace, your heart rate should be about 40 beats per minute lower than your maximum heart rate. See this heart rate monitor training page for more details.
Which brings me to the next question: do you know your maximum heart rate? There are some general formulas (e.g. 220 - age = maximum heart rate, so 220 - 23 = 197), but these formulas are pretty rough. I am not sure if you have one of those smart heart rate monitors that tells you your maximum heart rate, but that is more often than not also quite inaccurate.
For your next run, follow the "is conversation possible?" rule and check your heart rate. If you keep on experiencing higher than expected heart rates you may want to get your maximum heart rate tested in a sports lab, to really make sure that it is what you think it is.
Of course, if you are absolutely not comfortable about this, you should talk to your doctor about this. Better safe than sorry.
100 Day Marathon Plan from Marius Bakken
presents a welcome fresh training approach to marathon running that has proven to be very effective. It's the best marathon training program available today.
Marius has competed in the Olympics and has trained with world-class
athletes from Italy and Kenya. He has learnt from these runners and has made those training
methods applicable to marathon training programs for normal people like
ourselves.
This marathon plan prepares you well for a marathon by first focusing
on 5k and 10k training. Only when you are ready
Marius moves on to marathon training.
Want to get ready for a marathon within 100 days?
Then you need to give the 100 Day Marathon Plan a try.
Fat Loss 4 Idiots is based on a simple idea:
if you keep on doing what you are doing, you can not expect to be having a different outcome.
When you want to lose weight, and you find that only running is not enough, then try out Fat Loss 4 Idiots. It will provide you with a new way of thinking about food and could just be that little help you need to shed the pounds and start living the life you want.
