Training question for you runners...

[bigcop97]

I have been running about 1.5 miles a day training for our departments annual P.T testing. I know that it is not a long ways like you skinny distance guys, like the name says I am a "bigcop".

Anyways I usually run the distance in around 12:30 minutes. I really get gassed towards the last 400 yrds or so. After my runs I always check my heart rate just to see where I was at.

Directly after my run this morning I took my rate. I was at 45 beats in 15 seconds. I multiplied it by 4 obviously and was at 190. I am a 26 year old male. Right after my run I was dizzy and real wobbly for awhile. I took my heart rate awhile after my run and I had slowed down to normal...

Anyways I wondered kind of what my heart rate meant as far as where it should be, what the zones are for maximum heart rate vs training and all that j*** I learned in Phys Ed in middle school but forgot. Is 190 a lot, should I tone down my runs. And are you supposed to take it for like 15 seconds and multiply, or take it for a minute...

Any advice appreciated.

[PTI]

Well for starters we need to work on your math.....45x4=180 If you estimate your max heart rate using the 220-age formula I come up with 194. 85% of that would be 165. Looks to me like that during that last minute kick you are up there around 90-95% of your max heart rate. In order to increase your vo2max or aerobic fitness or cardiovascular fitness, whatever you want to call it, you need to keep your heart rate at 165 or better for longer periods of time. Sounds like you may have gone a little hard right at the end and your body was stuggling to get the o2 it needed. Did you stop completely or were you still moving? If you stop immediately after a workout like that without cooling down a bit remember that the law of gravity is going to apply and the blood is not going to get up to your grape and you will get light headed.

If I don't wear a heart rate monitor when I train I like to take my pulse for 6 seconds and then add a zero to that number for a quick estimate. The longer you count your pulse at the end of your workout the more accurate its gonna be. Something you might want to track after your workouts is how long it takes for your pulse to get back to normal. The better shape you are in the less time its gonna take.

[bigcop97]

Thanks for the info...

[curlyblue]

Your dizziness and wobblies might have been from something besides your heart rate. Were you over heated? Dehydrated? Fatigued? (from lack of sleep) Lots of things can affect the way you feel during or certainly after a run.