Staying in the Aerobic zone

If I breathe through my nose then I'm probably running 9-10mpm. And that a good 1-2 minutes slower than my 'easy' pace. So I would say breathing through your nose is not a good gauge. Also I would bet that your max HR is much higher than tested.

That's why it's so important for you to train in that zone (75%), because you need to improve your endurance.

If you can't even run at 65%, then you really do have to practice, because this is recovery pace, and is very important.

You should do a small amount of faster paced running too, as this will help to maintain good all round fitness.

scooter4491 wrote:

Firstly, I'm a high school runner coming back from an injury last year after running 5:30 for the mile. I'm ready to start base mileage now, but after buying a HR monitor for the first time I realized that my pace drops to a very slow 10:00 min/mile when I try to maintain a 75% max HR. I find that I cannot even run at the bottom of the range, which is 65% MHR.

I have nothing against heart rate monitors and have used them myself in the past but I don't think it's something that a high school runner should probably be using. It's putting the cart before the horse.

These are the years for you to just go run. Get in the miles, build up your strength and speed and enjoy the sport. Don't worry about your heart rate now. Just develop your love of running. There will be plenty of time to fine-tune your training with a HRM in years to come

And don't bother trying to breathe only through your nose. Just go out and try to run easily while breathing normally, whatever the pace is. Part of developing yourself as a runner involves getting that pace by feel.

If you truly need a rule-of-thumb for staying in the aerobic zone, you should be able to pretty easily carry on a conversation while in that zone. So if you're running and you can NOT easily carry on a conversation, you're probably going too fast.

Thanks for all your comments, but the real question I'm asking--and no one seems to be able to give me a good answer--is, WHY is my aerobic pace so slow? I did a run today at 10:30 pace, at 173 avg HR!

Training guides say that easy pace should be around two minutes/mile slower than 5k pace, which means my easy pace should be around 8 mpm, but the numbers I'm getting clearly don't line up. What's the difference between me and the average Joe physiologically? Do some people just have higher heart rates under the max?

Sorry for all the questions

Thanks for your advice

scooter4491 wrote:

Thanks for all your comments, but the real question I'm asking--and no one seems to be able to give me a good answer--is, WHY is my aerobic pace so slow? I did a run today at 10:30 pace, at 173 avg HR!

Training guides say that easy pace should be around two minutes/mile slower than 5k pace, which means my easy pace should be around 8 mpm, but the numbers I'm getting clearly don't line up. What's the difference between me and the average Joe physiologically? Do some people just have higher heart rates under the max?

Sorry for all the questions

Thanks for your advice

A lot of people have the same experience as you. You will find, over time that your 75% pace will get faster and faster. Mountain Runner Matt Carpenter talks about the experience here:

I found the same thing when I used one. But most people don't have the patience for that and abandon the HRM.

scooter4491 wrote:

Thanks for all your comments, but the real question I'm asking--and no one seems to be able to give me a good answer--is, WHY is my aerobic pace so slow? I did a run today at 10:30 pace, at 173 avg HR!

Training guides say that easy pace should be around two minutes/mile slower than 5k pace, which means my easy pace should be around 8 mpm, but the numbers I'm getting clearly don't line up. What's the difference between me and the average Joe physiologically? Do some people just have higher heart rates under the max?

Sorry for all the questions

Thanks for your advice

Several possibilities here. Hard to tell what is going on without more information. 1. You could just be badly out of shape. Could you run a 6min/mile 5k right now? If not, you can't use what you ran before your injury to judge your HR paces today. If you're just coming back from an injury, you should see rapid progress over the next few weeks.

2. Your Max HR could be a lot higher than the formula. Treadmill tests aren't always accurate either. Try one of the other running tests to determine Max HR. It wouldn't surprise me if your Max HR is 220 or higher. I had my HR tested at UC - Davis Performance Labs and it was several beats lower than my real Max HR. I requested a retest and hit the exact Max HR I had estimated using various running tests.

This is what I was looking for--these answers are a little more definitive.

Thanks to everyone who posted.

I started running again back in June. I had the same problem; I would have to alternate walking and running in order to remain in the proper HR zone for easy running. The temperature, wind, and running on inclines all effect your HR.

It's taken time, but I now can run comfortably in the easy zone without triggering the alarm. I would say this is from 2 things: improving my aerobic fitness, and learning proper pacing.

One thing you might consider is to use your HRM only on your easy days. This will force you to take it easy when you should. That is the biggest problem young runners have. Another problem is always trying to keep up with faster/fitter runners. Ultimately, this results in overtraining and poor performance. I wish I had known that in my brief stint of college running.