Increasing Pace - Not Heart Rate

Rupert said:

Folks, Would be interested in your (constructive) feedback on where to go next in my running
program. I am feeling pretty pleased in building up my endurance and now am doing 10 to 15km runs
no problems - though feel pretty weary afterwards.

At the moment I am doing a couple of 30 to 40 min runs each week, plus two longer ones 10 to 15km
on fairly hilly terrain, either forest tracks or suburban roads.

I am trying to keep my heart rate in the range of 120 to 160bpm which I am doing for the most part
- though my average is sitting in the mid 150's.

What I would like to do is to reduce my heart rate downwards and also to increase my speeds - at
the moment ( this morning ) I did 10.5km in around 1hr 15mins - which is am not sure if that is
good or bad...

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Cheers Rupert

Running faster at a reduced heart rate actually requires running for short bursts at a higher
heart rate. Or you could just wait until your body adjusted to the activity which could take 6
to 8 months.

As you run more your body will naturally become more efficient. As efficiency goes up your heart
rate will stay the same or go down and you'll become a bit faster.

Doing a speedwork session once a week will help the body become more efficient a bit faster. On the
day when you run 30-40 minutes pick up your pace for 3 minutes, then return to your usual pace for 2
minutes. Keep alternating between fast for 3 minutes and easy for 2 minutes until you are about a
mile from the end and then run easy as a cool down the rest of the way.

More importantly why do you want to be faster and have a lower heart rate? Do you have a race in
mind? Generally for overall fitness 30-40 minutes of aerobic exercise is fine to maintain and
increase fitness. Running faster will not directly lead to increased fitness.

my $0.02 Andy

"amh" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Running faster will not directly lead to increased fitness.

Hi Andy, Just curious-- how do you define "fitness," and why do you think that speedwork does not
contribute to it? Regards,
Dr. Dave

Running faster without increasing heartrate is the goal of everyone training to get faster. Just
keep running at 130-150 bpm, and the more and longer you do it the more your HR will come down. A
couple shorter runs per week around 160, or a speed workout with short bursts higher than that, will
increase it even more. However doing high heartrate every day is counter-productive and should be
avoided. Good luck! ANdy Hass

"Dave" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"amh" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Running faster will not directly lead to increased fitness.

Hi Andy, Just curious-- how do you define "fitness," and why do you think that speedwork does not
contribute to it?

I define fitness as the base ability to run for a bus, walk up 5 or so flights of stairs, shovel
snow, mow a lawn, lift furniture without the likelyhood of having a heart attack. I define it as a
general fitness that will allow a person to lead a healthly life. I really don't think that doing
speedwork is a requirement for the defination of fitness that I gave above.

I suppose others could call fitness the ability to run a sub 20 minute
5k. In this case doing speedwork to maintain fitness may be a requirement.

It is all semantics. A weightlifter would probably not call me fit since I'm not able to easily lift
100 pounds. Understand my point of view better now?

Andy

Quoted message said:

Regards,
Dr. Dave