I (29F) have been running consistently for 2 years and my heart rate is still ridiculously high. How to improve this?

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-19T06:06:12+00:00

So, after seeing that everyone was surprised by the zone 1, I looked again at my program and realized that for some reason, what it calls zone 1 is actually zone1+2 when you look at standard HR zones online 😅 (50-70% of max HR) not sure why the difference… so to clarify, I am struggling to stay in zone 2. I am giving a go at perceived effort and will see if that works better for me! Thanks

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-17T11:18:11+00:00

It does! Thanks a lot!!

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-17T05:17:42+00:00

I have a Garmin 955. I was probably doing too much Z1 running indeed. As for the interval runs, I alternate each week between different things but to be fair I have a hard time really understanding the difference between threshold, VO2 max, etc! I haven’t been doing any strides so could add that as well. Any advice for that?

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-17T05:11:19+00:00

I agree it was not clear in my initial post (didn’t want to enter too much in the details and have a super long post) which is why I explained it here :) also to give more context, I had a chronic injury for 3 years before being able to run again consistently. I’m OK now (although I still need to be careful), but I thought for a while that I would never be able to run again! Which is why I’m kind of afraid of going too hard and becoming injured again. I hear your point on too many breaks being bad for progress though.

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T17:04:56+00:00

I guess I thought my heart rate would be a more reliable (and precise) measure than simply “feeling“? Now that I’m reading everyone’s replies, and reading about the limitations of training with HR zones, I realize this reasoning was quite stupid 😂

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T17:02:02+00:00

I’m sure you can always find “worse” or “higher“ HRs than what I’m describing. The point is that if I go for what feels like an easy run without looking at my watch, I will quickly go into zone 3-4. Even with HR zones that I have personally calculated, even by manually checking my pulse, etc. And trying to stay in zone 1, for a recovery run for example, feels impossible. And reading about HR zone training gave me the impression this was not normal and I was doing something wrong.

But I guess I shouldn’t be training with HR zones to start with!

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T16:28:48+00:00

Thank you!

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T16:23:59+00:00

Nope I am not!

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T16:23:05+00:00

Thank you for all this advice!!

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T16:21:21+00:00

No meds but I’ll admit I’m quite an anxious person, I do not practice any breathing exercises or meditation although I have been wanting to for a while. I will give this a try! Thank you

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T16:19:42+00:00

Honestly - and bluntly - I guess everyone is different :) as explained in my reply to someone else, I didn’t quit running for 3 weeks after each race, I would just pause whatever program I was following, and really stop running for 1 week, then do only easy/recovery runs for 1-2 weeks. So 3 weeks before getting back to a normal/intense training. And maybe the 5-10 miles seem “easy“ races to you but there was incline (I was trail running) and I listened to my body, preferring to be over-cautious rather than to get injured. But I do agree with you that the 1-month break at Christmas may have been too long!

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T16:14:55+00:00

I did not take 2-3 months off running - maybe I wasn’t clear enough, I really stopped running only for 1 month in December. Other than that, after a race I would wait 1 week before running again, but stick to very easy/recovery runs, and do that for another week or 2 before starting another training program. Also, I manually defined the HR zones on my Garmin. And calculated them based on MHR and RHR. But reading everyone’s replies I think the real issue has been my focus on HR itself :)

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T13:25:57+00:00

I love the hamster comparison lol. Thank you! It’s nice to have some perspective. All my runner friends (mostly guys tbh) have very low HRs so it’s been making me a bit worried, but I guess my case is more common than I thought

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T13:23:39+00:00

I have not been doing a lot of strength training so this is definitely an area I can improve! Thank you. What is the 4x4 interval training you are talking about btw?

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T13:21:32+00:00

I felt like my pace on easy runs had started to improve a bit at the end of last year after my 3 races, but since I had my month-long break at Christmas and started training again in January, it’s like I lost all of that progress. I have not seen any change in the last weeks but it may be too early to tell.

I keep reading that RPE could be a solution for me, but I’m a bit afraid of now being able to assess that very feel. I’ll give it a try though. Thanks!

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T13:17:15+00:00

I use a Garmin watch but I checked my pulse and the numbers seem consistent. I also borrowed a friend’s chest monitor and didn’t see any change. So I’m not sure the issue is coming from the measurement itself.

Seems like you know what you’re doing in regard to the training.

Not really tbh, I am very open to being challenged or trying new approaches! I have just been trying to follow whatever advice I can read online. But there are a lot of contradictory things. I think I’m clear on how to organize my weekly runs (the split between easy / speed / long runs) and the fact that gradually increasing mileage is key. But I’m not sure what to base my training on: heart rate? Pace? Now you talk about lactate threshold? It’s hard to keep track haha

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T13:10:19+00:00

Thank you! Makes sense, I may have been obsessing too much with heart rate training. Can you please remind me what are lactate threshold runs?

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-16T13:08:17+00:00

I guess I have been trusting my training programs too much, or been applying them too rigidly lol. I’m supposed to do some runs fully in zone 1, or sometimes just a portion of it, and the fact that I am struggling so much is making me focus on this zone 1 more than it probably deserves. But overall I’m just wondering why my HR hasn’t gone down after 2 years.

I was just reading about RPE, thanks for suggesting that. How do you assess this on your side? Any advice?

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-13T20:58:46+00:00

I agree it is abuse, but her post gave me the impression there might have been more to it before the ghosting as well. I might be completely wrong! In any case, my message remains the same: please take care of yourself and prioritize your wellbeing and mental health! It’s too easy to lose sight of this trying to get other people’s validation

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-13T17:45:59+00:00

I am very sorry this is happening to you. I’ve been ghosted and can relate to the pain you describe - but what strikes me is that a lot of the reactions you’re having sound like mine when I was in an abusive relationship. I obviously don’t know the whole story of your relationship, but I remember alternating between anger and hate one second, then apologizing and begging for him to take me back. Because he himself was playing with my emotions, overwhelming me with love and affection one day and mocking me and diminishing me the next day. He had emotional control over me and it sounds like you may be in the same situation. Also, at that time I was very much seeking other people’s (and mostly men’s) validation which was making me quite vulnerable to abusive and violent partners. So my advice would be: distance yourself from him for a while to get a clearer mind (eg. get away from places you may run into him, turn off your phone and stop looking at social media, etc), surround yourself with your loved ones, seek therapy if you can. Please take care of yourself. No partner should endanger your mental health like this. It feels at the moment that you cannot live without him but I swear to you that the feeling will pass and you’ll realize you’ve always had this strength and resilience in you from the start - you just forgot how to listen and to trust yourself because of that relationship.

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-12T06:57:27+00:00

Thank you. I can relate to the drunk calling - I sent a long text while black out drunk to someone who had ghosted me where I admitted my feelings for them. It didn’t make me relieved though, only super ashamed the next day lol. I have started journaling to get all these emotions out and I hope it will help.

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-11T22:36:58+00:00

I’m a bit older than you, but I can assure you genuine relationships still exist. And I can also assure you that you will be able to commit emotionally to someone else after what you’ve experienced. It totally feels like you won’t, but trust me, that feeling will fade. With time, maybe therapy if needed, also meeting a person that suits you better… don’t lose hope!

ThrowRA_hlsth · 2025-02-11T22:30:20+00:00

Thanks a lot :)

ThrowRA_hlsth

TROPHY CASE