Observations after a week with heart rate
So I've been running with heart rate for a week, first time since about '06. Observations:
- Takes my HR a loonngg time to ramp up. Like, takes several, several minutes for my HR to go from "I'm asleep" to Z3 effort, even though RPE stays constant.
- Very sensitive to hydration level
- My default running gear is a Z3 RPE...just take a while for my HR to get there.
- I'm basically going off of what I remember my old zones to be and they don't seem to have changed much with age or whatever. That is, my Z3, HMP heart rate from back in the day was about 163-168 -- this is what I'd race an HIM at and try to push it above 170bpm in the last 2-3 miles -- and things feel about the same right now.
That's it :-)
I haven't ridden my bike in 2-3wks, not yet with HR, just runnin' with Riley about 40-45' 5x/wk. I'm basically running by RPE and observing pace and heart rate. But really the big takeaway is how long it takes my HR to rise to reflect my RPE and pace. I'm also in "guy who's exercising" shape, not crazy IM fitness. Would be interesting to compare what I'm seeing now to what I would have seen last year before IMWI.
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A large part of this was also based off of feeling that my HR readings were unreliable, but I got a new monitor and all seems to be much more consistent now so I'm back to treating HR more seriously now. The observations that you comment on could be very valuable to both training and racing if you come to have a very high understanding of your typical HR response to various paces and conditions, one such example being a clear indicator of under-hydration.
All that knowledge could go a long way to pinpointing that "something just doesn't feel right" root cause in a race.