Why would a low heart rate run feel like a frustratingly exhausting, all stops out, thumping great effort?!
Program : 14km with heart rate @ 113 (76%) after 2km warm-up.
I did the 2km warm-up on the grass in Renwick Soccer Field & decided to stay there - for as long as I could stand it! - going round & round to see if I could keep HR at 113 on a flat surface. Even there, it was all hard work & I felt I was having to make too much of an effort for what I assumed should be a fairly comfortable pace.
At the end of 7km, I went out onto the road where I thought it would be easier with some downhills thrown in! The downhills were OK, but the rest of the run just kept getting tougher & tougher. It felt like running flat out to stay with a low heart rate! This doesn't sound right to me, but then obviously, I know very little about HR running & I've asked Ewen to tell me where I'm at or going!.... Track tomorrow.
LL I reckon you just get days like that - doesn't pay to analyse them too much unless you start to establish a pattern and they happen regularly.
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy with 14k at any HR or way it felt at the moment!
It's a bloody good question LL, I'd like to know the answer too as I've had the same experience.
ReplyDeleteSee what Steve Lacey, Bloggus Varigatus, has to say about this. Ewen probably knows about this too.
My only advice is "Time heals!" or is that just for broken hearts ;)
I've emailed LLs with a possible explanation...
ReplyDeleteIf you are just tired, or not recovered from the previous day's training, low HR runs can sometimes seem like hard work.
This is even more so for slower runners (such as myself), who take a fairly long time to run moderate distances such as 14k. I can take 85 minutes to run a low HR 14k.