Lobby: Heart rate/endurance/pace

Hi, I'm relatively new to running (I started last January) and I typically run  3-4 miles every other day.  When I first started running I was struggling with my endurance and pace.  In high school, when I played soccer, I typically ran around an 8:30 min/mile and now 6 years later I'm running around a 10 min/mile.  I figured after training for a while my pace would come down.  I received a heart rate monitor for my birthday in may and have used it religiously during my runs and have found that I am having problems going over my target HR zone with my 10 min mile.  So during my runs, when my HR goes too high (around 180 bpm) I start to slow down.  I guess my questions is how do I continue to increase my speed without making my heart rate go out of control.   Whenever I try to push myself during my runs, my HR jumps from around 174 (my average, which I think is still too high) to 190. 

I'm open to all suggestions.

thanks,

Bridget

ps.  I'm 24, 130 lbs, 5'1" with a BMI of 24.9.

Bridget,

The answer I would give you is throw the HRM away. No not literally, but maybe just put it in a draw for 6 months. At your level of fitnes, you just need to run and enjoy. You need to run a  speed that you can talk at. Try and find someone else of your speed who you can go out with. Failing that, run with your ipod for company. Your body is the best HRM, it will tell you when you are heading towards running anaerobically.  As you get fitter you will still be running at the same effort but you will notice that you will progressively get faster. The other thing is that you will need to extend your runs out longer. The idea with running is you need to recover from each days training. I am not sure where you are at with your training, but here is a brief starting point (I assume you are just starting out, so adapt this if that is not the case): Run out for 5 minutes at an easy pace, turn and run home again. The coming home should be the same pace (5 mins). When you have mastered that, extend to, say, 10 minutes each way, then 15 and so on. The easiest way to see a sudden leap in ability is to follow the hard-easy, hard-easy system - every longer 5run is followed by a shorter , easier one to enable your organism to adjust to the new demands. Thus you run 15 minutes one day, five the next, then another 15, another 5, untiul you feel ready to extend. Be patient. Step up to 30 mins, with two 15 min days in between. Then try 45 mins, again followed by two 15 minute days, when you can handle that, run for an hour with two 15 minute days before the next hour. Then you can start to bring up the intermediate days - alternating an hour, two half hours, an hour and so on. Once you have mastered this you can extend that long run as you feel. You cannot neglect those vital recovery days. This is the best way to start. before you know it your pace will have improved with out you even noticing. It may take a good 6 months, so stick with it.

Good luck, running has given me 35 years of enjoyment.

Daniel

I was having a very simmilar problem.  While I have not figure out the whole training with a hrm "thang", I have discovered a few bits of info that might help.  1) Depending the brand of your HRM, you may be able to adjust the settings.  I have found that I can change my target rate from low-to-medium-to-high. 2)  I don't know if your hrm has an alarm, but mine does and I turned it off (because it was so $#!@ annoying).  I just watched my rate when I was feeling good and then tried to keep it at that rate (90-92%).  3) my hrm has something called "ownzone" which bases your max-min rates on a fitness test.  I have yet to try it....but it is next on my list.  I suppose that your max hrm (and mine for that matter) may be higher than the standard for our age, height, and weight (I'm a (little ha-ha) bit older than you). 

 Like I said, I'm still learning about using my HRM for training (and racing), but the jist of what I know is that it is just another tool to get to know your body and what it can do.  Hope this helps.