Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Why the elevated heartrate?

I've run 16 miles WTD with 24 to go. When I get to 40 this week successfully, I will then sign up for the Vegas Half.

Monday - Well-deserved rest.
Tuesday - 6-miler - easy 8:34 pace
Wednesday - 10 miles

This morning, I knocked out a 10-miler. All went well, but it felt more taxing than I expected.

I do have concern over my heart rate. It seems much more elevated than during my marathon prep. Does this mean I have lost my fitness? Let's look at some data.

Check out a 10-miler from Oct 14 (8 days before the marathon) -- about a 7:48 pace (click image)








Check out today's run - same exact distance, same exact pace (click image)








You can see my average heart rate was 151 a month ago - and it was 160 this morning. That's alarming to me. What gives?


Granted, I am not doing 50 mile weeks, but I thought I was doing a nice job to ease back toward 30-40 in a 3-4 week period. Apparently, not enough to keep my heart in shape?!

I plan to do an easy six in the morning tomorrow, before flying out to Denver in the evening. I will do an easy 4 either Friday or Saturday with rest on one of the days.

On Sunday, when we arrive back home in Chicago, I hope to embark on an evening 14-miler in the dark.

Not ideal, but I don't have any other time to fit it in with our family visit to my sis's. It would not be fair to go disappear for a couple of hours during a short weekend visit with family that I don't see often.

Plus, with my elevated HR, I don't even want to try a long run at mile high altitude!

5 comments:

Steve said...

Ryan, keep up the work. I say run a solid half...maybe even go for broke. But I think wiht a solid 1/2 under your belt would really be a huge confidence boost as you turn the corner to train for Boston. So earlier in this training cycle...you would really then realize how much of a base you are building on top off.

Again, Congrats on Chicago again.

and btw, thanks for cropping your new photo; no need to see me and Kristine wearing garbage bags. ;)

Anonymous said...

Hey Ryan, I came across your site via Chad's. Good run in Chicago. I follow my heart rate relatively closely, and I've definitely seen elevated numbers post-marathon. It's almost certain you haven't lost fitness, just be aware that it might be a sign of overtraining.

MNFirefly said...

I do not know about the elevated HR. Hang in there.

Unknown said...

Good call on not skipping out for a long run while visiting family. I hope you're able to get it in when you arrive home.

SRR said...

Maybe the heartrate was elavated due to impure thoughts... hmmm...
:-)