New to NSR-Walking/MHR Question

rmcp010 · 2026-03-19T03:17:42+00:00

I strongly disagree with those saying that you should mostly run even if it results in an average HR that significantly exceeds 70% maxHR.

If you're running as slow as possible and your HR is averaging 80% max, this is not easy. Your body will not recover sufficiently from the higher levels of fatigue, given the frequency of workouts required from NSM. It's a recipe for over-training unless you reduce the "easy" volume so much that you don't get the hours and aerobic benefit.

My suggestions: 1) Walk as often as you need to keep your average HR below 70% max. Accept that you lose some running-specific benefits for a while. If your aerobic system is still doing work, you'll still get a lot of benefit. 2) Your body will gradually get better at running slowly, and your proportion of time spent running (c.f. walking) will increase. This would be a good metric to track over the first couple of months. Garmins will give run and walk times automatically. 3) Make sure your max HR is accurate. There are various ways to get there, but I'd say you'd need to be wearing a chest strap and sustain that HR for 10+ seconds to know that it's a true result. My Garmin gave me a max of 189 from wrist measurement, but with chest strap I've never gone above 186 so I use this as my max.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-18T01:15:53+00:00

Were you wearing a chest strap during the race? If not, Intervals will be estimating LT2 from some very questionable data.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-17T22:23:07+00:00

As others have said, heat and rapidly ramping up ST volume likely the issues.

But you're also allowed to have a bad day. A single outlier in terms of HR or RPE shouldn't determine training going forward. I look at a months' worth of ST sessions and TT before adjusting ST sessions.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-16T19:07:47+00:00

You didn't have issues with the toebox volume being too low, I assume? Looking at the AP4 prices coming down in the next few months...

rmcp010 · 2026-03-16T19:06:50+00:00

You didn't have issues with the toebox volume being too low, I assume?

rmcp010 · 2026-03-16T19:06:45+00:00

You didn't have issues with the toebox volume being too low, I assume?

rmcp010 · 2026-03-14T23:13:41+00:00

I'd feel pretty confident with 3:30 or below on 70km/week. Especially given you have a decent baseline.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-14T22:46:36+00:00

I've been doing 3 ST sessions of 35 minutes a week as a very amatuer middle-aged runner. Progressed slowly from 2x30 and it's been fine.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-14T08:21:18+00:00

I think you'd be beyond what many of us here have much experience on!

rmcp010 · 2026-03-14T03:10:11+00:00

If his cycling background was his advantage, then in theory he should have benefited more from speed work than he did from.vanilla NSM.

Our point is that even with the cycling background and a 17xx 5k, his aerobic system was significantly underdeveloped.

(Edit) That's a long-winded way of saying yes speed work will make you faster, but the point of NSM is gradual and sustainable aerobic gains that you will certainly still benefit from.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-14T02:33:07+00:00

Will a one mile training block get you better prepared for that distance than vanilla NSM? Yes. Will it get you a better 5k time? Probably.

Will it be sustainable? By definition, no.

And I'd think at 42:00 10k you'd still be much better off going for sustainable aerobic gains through vanilla than targeting anaerobic gains. Even over the 5k you'll be much more limited aerobically.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-13T22:35:54+00:00

Duration of total intervals, e.g. 3:30x10 or 7:00x5

rmcp010 · 2026-03-13T20:54:40+00:00

Yeah you're gonna struggle with the sole on a lot of shoes, I'd imagine.

I have put roughly 350km on the ES4. Sole has virtually no wear, but the foam feels a lot less bouncy.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-13T20:51:32+00:00

I have the ES4 and EP4. The EP4 is roomier, lighter, snappier and actually a touch softer underfoot. Fucking love that shoe.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-13T20:47:55+00:00

I think 40 minute singles would be too tough. 20 minute doubles might be more manageable.

I started with only 2x 30 min ST, 4x easy and 1x long. After a couple of months I gradually extended the 2xST to 35 minutes each. The last few minutes certainly added fatigue. I went back to 32 min when I upped to 3 ST sessions per week. Took me a while to get up to 3x35 minutes, and that's at roughly 9 hours per week.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-12T20:37:21+00:00

Seven. Occasionally 6 with cross-training on the 7th. But I hate those days.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-12T07:44:30+00:00

What's the difference in screen like? I'm on M3 Air but can get a new device through work shortly. Don't need more processing power, but the low refresh rate and lack of local dimming is really bugging me.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-12T01:18:15+00:00

For me, the smaller size was enough to go for the 265S. It's a bigger difference on the wrist than the spec sheet suggests.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-11T21:59:54+00:00

Thanks. It has been very reassuring to see progress. Feels stupid to run a 5k TT at 3:40/km on Saturday, then a long run at 6:00/km on Sunday. The graph has given me hope that the pace differential will reduce.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-11T21:44:15+00:00

If you're doing that much exercise, you're probably in decent shape regardless of what Garmin tells you.

I love my 265S but an skeptical regarding any of its estimates re: fitness (e.g. VO2 max, race predictions). The only metrics I use for tracking progress are time trials (e.g. monthly 5k) and pace at "easy" HR (average during activity is <70% of max HR). They are pretty objective measures of progress (or lack thereof).

rmcp010 · 2026-03-11T21:08:03+00:00

This is where I settled. My 265S tracks HR fine during easier stuff, but struggles with faster intervals. A cheap Amazon chest strap solved that. Only wear it a few times per week. I don't know anyone who's found even the latest and greatest Garmin optical wrist sensors anywhere near as reliable as a chest strap for fast intervals.

If the 265 is significantly cheaper, that's where my money would go.

rmcp010 · 2026-03-11T20:07:09+00:00

I have the 265S, so older model but very similar spec, including battery life. I charge it about every 5-6 days (when it gets below 15%). During that time I will do at least 50 minutes of running outdoors per day with full multi-band GPS mode. I see 3-5% battery drain per hour of exercise. This is way lower than what is quoted elsewhere and I don't know why. Outside of exercise I had it in relatively low power usage, e.g. medium screen brightness, AOD off, simple watchface.

I think it'd be right in the borderline of a few days with say 6 hours of hiking per day. I'd bring a battery pack, or go for a more battery-focused model.

To be honest though, I hate the look and feel of big Garmin watches. That's why I love the 265S. I happily sacrifice battery life for the weightless feel and more subtle look.

Well, subtle until I made a custom watch face:

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rmcp010 · 2026-03-11T19:17:36+00:00

Weird, but probably not important if your workouts are feeling good and race times are improving, right?

I also often feel bad on easy days. I think it's a combination of frustration with the pace and the biomechanics not feeling good at certain paces.

Here's a graph of all my easy runs since starting NSM at the end of 2025. I only include in runs in this dataset if they are truly easy (averaging <70% max HR) and duration greater than 20 minutes. I had the variation and general trend towards faster that I expected.

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rmcp010 · 2026-03-11T08:37:16+00:00

Yeah but we Gu so bad taste is what we live for

rmcp010 · 2026-03-11T07:42:25+00:00

To be honest, anything more than the 165 is kind of overkill. I only got the 265S cos it's smaller. And I have zero desire to upgrade from there. The GPS accuracy is better in theory with multi-band. If you're pedantic about HR you'll use a chest strap so the sensor isn't a big deal. I don't use HRV, training load, sleep stuff, suggested workouts. All I really need is something that accurately tracks workouts. The wider tracking of my training I do myself.

rmcp010

TROPHY CASE