Heart rate running

My last post seemed to be all doom and gloom. So after a  kick up the backside I've spent the last two weeks running consistently and making sure I'm ready to run Loch Katrine to the best of my abilities. I have also decided how I'm going to run the race. Lock Katrine has almost 2000 feet of elevation but is mainly small hills. As the race director gleefully proclaims "there isn't a flat mile in it". This lead me to worry about how to pace the marathon. When I ran Loch Ness marathon I think the first 5-8 miles of ups and downs had a huge impact on the second half of my race. I think running the small but consistent hills with a set pace per mile meant that I had to run the ups harder than I would have liked and I ran the downs faster than I needed to. Downhill running is actually something I've focused on as I think that getting used to the impact that it puts on the quads will be important for the later stages of the race, though I have struggled to find short steep downs. So all of my runs have included at least one or two hills and I've tried to run them well to getting used to the extra load that goes into short sharp downs.

I've also read every blog post I could find about the race and I came across Robert Osfields blog (worth reading in it's own right). He has a post entitled 'How to pace the perfect marathon'. I don't think there is any point in re hashing(or plagiarising) what he says so please bookmark this page then go and read his post.

Finished? Convinced?  I was convinced enough to give it a go over three runs. The first was a wee 5 miler to see how this whole heart rate running works. The next run was a 13 mile route that had some hills in it. The final run was 16.5 miles with two big hills. The first run showed that running to heart rate was a good way of making sure that you don't go out the gates too quickly. Using the calculator the Roberts blog suggests (see the link below) you end up running really slowly for the first two miles speeding up little by little until your running a consistent pace at a comfortable heart rate. The first two runs also brought up a few practical considerations. As I don't have a very posh Garmin. I'm using my Garmin forerunner10 and a polar heart rate monitor. It ended up working well and much cheaper than the obvious alternative of buying a new Garmin (insert other brand here) despite the very strange look of a running using two watches. It also sadly means I can't upload my heart rate data as my polar doesn't have a record function. On my first and second run I found that I was walking a lot to try and keep exactly to the target heart rates. I think this is because I wasn't used to using a heart rate watch to pace and would jump from going too slow, to too quick. The third run was the most successful run and I was more tuned into what pace would bring my heart rate down and what would bring it up.



My times ended up very close to the predictions made by the calculator so that was pleasing. Though you do have to trust that it will work out. I spend most of the second run wondering how I was ever going to finish the run if I was going so slow. Sure enough though you end up speeding up and on both runs I was only a few minutes off my target which would have (in theory) kept getting closer as the aim is to run a negative split. Ultimately though I'm going to use this as a tool to make sure I finish this race well and not too beaten up. If that means running within my perceived abilities for the first half then fair enough.

the joy of two watches and a photo bombing cat.

Lastly, I have decided to only use my heart rate for my long training runs and the race itself as If I'm honest the other articles I've read about heart rate training have created more confusion than clarity. The reason this calculator appeals to me is that I don't feeling I'm running and appearing on the numbers game in countdown. It seems that an inevitable by-product of heart rate running being so individual is that all the training information is in algebraic form, which if I'm honest just doesn't appeal. However if anyone wants to do the math for me feel free and maybe I'll give it a go.

Next up will  be a post about my aims and hopes for the actual race. Woop Woop.

Many thanks to everyone that I know that have either been encouraging or demanding with making sure I do my runs and eat a little healthier.

Please check out Robert's blog and the heart rate post. The links are text embedded but I will put them below along with the calculator link.

If you've tried heart rate running and think it works, or think it's all pointless let me know.


Marathon calculator

http://feelrace.com/fr.pl?th=MARCO

Robert  Osfields blog

http://trossachstrailrunner.blogspot.co.uk/

Roberts post about Heart rate training.

http://trossachstrailrunner.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/how-to-pacing-perfect-marathon-or-ultra.html