HOW DO I INTERPRET MY RUN RR HR FOR RACE DAY PURPOSES???
Seeking RUN HR guidance from the veterans!!!!!
I paid a lot of attention to my HR during RUN RR today (IM WEEK 17), and was wondering how do I interpret for race day purposes?????
Today I ran 18.3 miles in 2:24:46, strictly following guidance (+30 seconds first hour, 8:32 pace second hour, best effort last 24 minutes), eating/drinking exactly as planned for race day (Core Diet guidance).
Average HR during first two hours was 118 (rising only to 130+ during last 24 minutes when I pushed hard). Average HR for my bike RR1 two weeks ago was 130.
Any HR guidance you might be able to give me (based on the above and your experience) would be great.
Tks
I paid a lot of attention to my HR during RUN RR today (IM WEEK 17), and was wondering how do I interpret for race day purposes?????
Today I ran 18.3 miles in 2:24:46, strictly following guidance (+30 seconds first hour, 8:32 pace second hour, best effort last 24 minutes), eating/drinking exactly as planned for race day (Core Diet guidance).
Average HR during first two hours was 118 (rising only to 130+ during last 24 minutes when I pushed hard). Average HR for my bike RR1 two weeks ago was 130.
Any HR guidance you might be able to give me (based on the above and your experience) would be great.
Tks
0
Comments
I am not a veteran and will not comment...but this is a great question and I look forward to hearing the comments.
@Juan...was this 18miles you ran today after a RR bike today?...or you ran 18 without RR bike first today and are comparing to your HR from a recent RR bike?
First things first...don't try to compare bike and run HR's....they are totally different animals....
For run...you have a target pace that you have been training to...and in your RR...you ran comfortably at Target with an Average HR of 118...so I would say what you want to do is target an HR range of 115-122(125)...and during the race you should feel comfortable, be in that range at your target pace...if your HR is creeping up above that range you need to consider backing off the pace even if you are only running at your target pace...ie. your Percieved Exertion, Target Pace, and Target HR range should align....if you find yourself running slightly faster than target but your PE is good and your HR is staying within that range...then you are probably okay at that pace...
Do you see how you use the two (3) touchpoints as guidance for effort on race day?....sorry if it is confusing...but hope it helps.
http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Race+Day+Heart+Rate+on+the+Run,+Part+One:+The+Over
http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Race+Day+Heart+Rate+on+the+Run,+Part+Two:+Determin
Juan, as usual, you are focusing on the correct thing here.
For reference, for others reading this thread, here are the instructions for the workout Juan is talking about:
"Ironman RR Run
MS: 3 hours or 15 to 18 miles (whichever comes first) done as 25%-50%-25%.
• 30% (1 hour OR 5 to 6 miles) at Zone 1 / LRP / Easy Pace PLUS 30" per mile.
• 50% (1.5 hours OR 7 to 9 miles) at Zone 1 / LRP / Easy Pace.
• 20% (30 minutes OR 3 miles) at Zone 3 / HMP / Mod-Hard (or as close as possible)."
Among its other uses, the wko offers a couple of elements. First, the opportunity to get a sense of what the pace/speed coming off the bike in an IM is like. Of course, you're not actually biking before this, so the RPE and HR of those first six miles will be LOWER than what you will experience on race day. Second, it introduces the need to gradually increase the RPE just to maintain pace during the next 9 miles, one of the key tasks in the IM marathon. Again, though, that RPE and the associated HR will be LOWER in this RR than during the actual race. Finally, by asking you to up the effort during the final three miles, you are introduced to the feeling - the RPE & HR - that you ail encounter during the last 10 miles or so of the actual race (compressed into those 3 miles/30 minutes).
As to using the HR findings in this RR to guide you on race day - that's difficult, for several reasons First, again, you're not as fatigued (carbohydrate depleted/dehydrated) at any point during this run as you will be on race day, except for maybe the last mile or so of this RR. Second, there are the environmental race day effects on HR to consider - terrain, temperature, humidity. So that's where faith comes in. Some of us (see wiki article Robert referenced, and my race report from IM AZ last Nov) have served as guineas pigs on how to run the IM marathon using HR as a primary tool, with RPE as a secondary metric; all I can say, is, trust us. It took me 2-3 races to get up the nerve to let my HR go up as high as Coach P suggested, but when I finally did, the wheels did NOT fall off.
Coach P's description in the wiki is a lot longer, but the executive summary, IMO, after experiencing it to good effect in my last race, is: start the marathon at about the HR you are seeing at the end of the bike leg. This should be high Zone 1. You will probably find yourself drifting into very low zone 2 by the end of 6-8 miles. From then on, let your HR drift upwards to low-mid Zone 2 for the bulk of the run. After mile 18, creeping up into mid-high Zone 2 is probably OK, but it should be tempered by RPE: "Can I hold this pace until the end of the race?" is the question to constantly ask yourself. Depending on how much you cooked the bike, the terrain, and the temp/humidity, YMMV - meaning your actual speed may or may not be "LRP + 30" in the first 6 miles, or LRP for the rest of the way. Only in ideal circumstances - temp below 20C (68F), flattish course, proper EN bike execution, maintenance of hydration/nutrition - will your speed fit that prescription. Absent perfect conditions, HR is a better guide to pacing than your km/min.
To answer your specific question, I don't think you can use the HR from this RR to guide you in any significant way on race day. That's where the faith/trust us comes in, I guess.
Out of curiosity, I just went back to my race file from IM AZ 2013, and found the following HRs by mile. Zone 1 for me is 117-124, Z 2 is 125-137. 121/119/112/120/123/121/123/124124/123/125/126/129/128/130/132/133/130/130/133/128/132/129/132/133.
In the first 11 miles,my MAXIMUM HR was 129; my MAX HR in the last half of the race was 137. The last five miles had a little disruption from some vomiting, which made me stop and/or walk for a couple of minutes; I was probably actually going 132/3 when running for all of those last five miles.
On the bike that day, I had a very steady HR of 116; My last two five mile segments were 116/114, "high Z1".
On my run to 2 years earlier, same course, same temps, when I went 3 minutes slower, my HRs looked more like the first example in the wiki - started out too high, dropped in the middle, then picked up in the last 8 miles when I began to push, trying to catch someone in my AG. More poorly executed, IMO. I was ahead of the guy out of T2, and would not have had to re-catch him if I had been using the newer, HR pacing strategy.