My max heart rate seems to be 170 - which I believe is fairly low. I am 43, recent 5k pr of 17:30.
Should I design workouts around that kind of low max hr? For example mile repeats, keeping the heart rate at around 160? I don't start to blow up until around 163 or so.
If someone with knowledge on this subject could please provide insight it would be very helpful - I myself have a resting HR of around 36-40 and a corresponding low max HR and was wondering the same thing.
PR's (in case they help)
- 4:29 mile
- 8:44 3000
- 32:11 10,000
Weekly mileage is about 85-95.
Read John Parker's "Heart Rate Training For Compleat (his spelling) Idiots."
It simplifies things.
There is no low max. It is what it is.
Once you know your max and resting, the rest is easy.
No, you should not change your training plan as a result of your max heart rate value.
thanks for the book tip
I always thought that it is an advantage to have a high maximum heart rate - is that wrong?
Give it up. With a HRmax that low you are lucky to be alive. You should see a cardiologist immediately.
I am not a fan of HR based training, but HRmax has nothing to do with one's fitness or ability to train (assuming it is caused by beta blockers or some other reason along those lines).
If you want to use percentages of max, use the max.
Of course, the first question is "how certain of that HR are you?".
I remember Jack Daniel's talking about an elite with a max in the 140s both in his prime and years later. Maybe instead of worrying about the HR itself, just go off perceived effort?
wabbity wrote:
I always thought that it is an advantage to have a high maximum heart rate - is that wrong?
Yes.