How many miles did you run today?

[Fueco]

5.5 miles on the flat trails. I did most of this at easy pace, with some fartleks (at tempo pace) thrown in around the midpoint to get my legs thinking about moving faster. Temps around 80 (it’s supposed to hit 93 this afternoon).

 

[sugarbutch]

29 miles after work yesterday.

 

[jbarwick]

5.5 miles on the trails tonight. Rain started just as the run started which cooled things off. Felt really strong tonight and ran some hills which I usually walk on. Overall I was super happy with the run and my fitness in general right now.

 

[Texasmade]

Got back from the track. Put in a good time on the mile warmup at 8:16 and my 400m was 68 seconds. First time I've been able to crack that time in awhile even though it was hot and humid as ****.

 

[Churchill W]

7.36 miles last night at average pace of 8:38/mile. Tried to take it easy because my left knee was bothering me for the first two miles and at the turnaround point for about a mile. I thought taking it at a slower pace would net me a lower average heart rate, but I stayed in zone 5 for 75% of the time like I usually do and might have been above my average heart rate.

Felt really hot out yesterday. It was probably around 82 with 80%+ humidity. I'm really not cut out for warm weather running.

Today was day off commuting around town by bike running errands. 18.1 miles over about 2 hours of moving time.

 

[Dusty Heaters]

@Churchill W - Dang, boss, Zone 5? Maybe we're using a different scale, which is far more than likely seeing as there's about 1MM out there. Z5 for me is sprint intensity, likely no more than 4min sustained, quite painful after about ~1min. Can you elaborate a little more, I'm just curious?

The one I use goes:

Zone 1: Recovery pace (a pace you can literally belt out a song without trouble)
Zone 2: Endurance pace (fluid sentences & paragraphs. A little breathy towards the upper limit.)
Zone 3: Threshold pace (a sentence here and there.)
Zone 4: Interval pace (paces you can hold for 2-5min sustained w/ jogging recoveries. maybe a word or two at times.)
Zone 5: Repetition pace (paces you can hold for 1-5min per bout w/ standing recoveries. maybe a grunt is possible.)

 

[Churchill W]

@Churchill W - Dang, boss, Zone 5? Maybe we're using a different scale, which is far more than likely seeing as there's about 1MM out there. Z5 for me is sprint intensity, likely no more than 4min sustained, quite painful after about ~1min. Can you elaborate a little more, I'm just curious?

The one I use goes:

Zone 1: Recovery pace (a pace you can literally belt out a song without trouble)
Zone 2: Endurance pace (fluid sentences & paragraphs. A little breathy towards the upper limit.)
Zone 3: Threshold pace (a sentence here and there.)
Zone 4: Interval pace (paces you can hold for 2-5min sustained w/ jogging recoveries. maybe a word or two at times.)
Zone 5: Repetition pace (paces you can hold for 1-5min per bout w/ standing recoveries. maybe a grunt is possible.)

You're right it doesn't make sense. Maybe I need to recalibrate my watch. This is how Garmin defines them:

Screenshot_20210611-092756.png

• Churchill W
• Jun 11, 2021

My average BPM for my runs are usually around 163 and according to my app zone 5 is anything 161+, so I guess I'm barely in zone 5.

 

[Dusty Heaters]

@Churchill W - Ah, yeah, that's Garmin. In my opinion I would throw that baby out with the bathwater, especially if it's pulling HR data from the wrist sensor on the watch.

Right now it's a pull from an algorithm based on your estimated max HR. Personally, I think it's extremely difficult to find your true max HR for the variety of reasons. I've changed mine to calculate off of '% of Lactate Threshold'. There are 100 ways to estimate your LT. I came up with mine based on the average HR during the last 20 minutes of a 10k race.

Another personal footnote is that I've been running with a HR chest strap for the past ~3 years and have found the data to have too much daily variance to rely on solely. It's useful to look at things from a macro perspective to assess trends.

Just my $.02.

 

[Churchill W]

@Churchill W - Ah, yeah, that's Garmin. In my opinion I would throw that baby out with the bathwater, especially if it's pulling HR data from the wrist sensor on the watch.

Right now it's a pull from an algorithm based on your estimated max HR. Personally, I think it's extremely difficult to find your true max HR for the variety of reasons. I've changed mine to calculate off of '% of Lactate Threshold'. There are 100 ways to estimate your LT. I came up with mine based on the average HR during the last 20 minutes of a 10k race.

Another personal footnote is that I've been running with a HR chest strap for the past ~3 years and have found the data to have too much daily variance to rely on solely. It's useful to look at things from a macro perspective to assess trends.

Just my $.02.

I actually have the Garmin chest HRM too and don't feel like it's too much different from my watch.

The Garmin app indicates my lactate threshold is 161 BPM at 7:55 min/mi.

 

[Fueco]

I’ve always been led to understand that HR is too variable to be in any way useful for training. If you’re dehydrated, or have not slept enough (the first two examples that come to mind), your heart rate will be higher.

There’s a reason cyclists use power data. Isn’t that becoming more commonly available for running?

 

[jbarwick]

Another gym session out of the way. I really hate OHP and do a light weight as I don't anticipate myself needing strength in that direction.

Most of my running is done in Zone 2. Last nights run was a solid effort so Zone 3 with the finish in Zone 4. I doubt I get too much into Zone 5 but probably should just to get my body there. I have heard Tabatta drills get you there. Thinking about it, some of the 20min Peloton classes have you sprinting with high resistance so maybe there but I've only done a couple in the past 2-3 months.

 

[kjb]

8 miles with the club last night in what was a bit more than probably necessary as my first run since the race on saturday. i felt fresh at the get go so i thought "sure why not? it's my first run in almost a week and i'd like to keep my standard weekly mileage going"

i was wrong ha. about 6 miles in my body started to feel pretty fatigued, i was probably not fully recovered. i managed to keep my pace consistent for the last 2 miles but it was a bit more of an effort than i would have wanted. 8:15 pace basically the entire time which is a solid showing especially for how hard the last 2 felt.

 

[Michigan Planner]

Relatively slow half marathon yesterday with an 8:40/mile pace overall. My first mile was exceptionally slow at 10:24 and the next few were just around 9:00 and I progressed from there eventually leveling off around 8:10/mile for the final 3 or 4 miles.

10.2 miles this morning at 8:03/mile overall. Today's route was basically an out and back. I normally prefer a route that loops me around but I like this out and back because I get about 500' of climb on the way out and then the way back is basically downhill.

 

[Dusty Heaters]

I actually have the Garmin chest HRM too and don't feel like it's too much different from my watch.

The Garmin app indicates my lactate threshold is 161 BPM at 7:55 min/mi.

I have a similar experience also. The optical sensor is actually pretty good for me compared to the chest strap, but I've heard it varies a ton based on your skin tone, wrist placement, etc.

Re LT: I don't allow Garmin to auto-calculate but when I did, it was off for me. How would you feel if you ran for 20 minutes at that HR?

I don't think HR is a completely useless metric. After all, it's literally a physiological measurement of how hard your heart is working. Sure there is going to be variance day-to-day due to external and internal factors, but it shouldn't be wildly inconsistent. +-3 to 5 bpm is the usual variability for someone who's been consistent for more than 8 weeks. Any more than that and it's likely an indication that something is off.

 

[Churchill W]

Re LT: I don't allow Garmin to auto-calculate but when I did, it was off for me. How would you feel if you ran for 20 minutes at that HR?

I think I would be fine running at 20 minutes at that heart rate and pace. For 20 minutes I could probably go faster. My last timed 5K about two years ago was 22:53.