Heartrate & Lactic Threshold pace

You'll need your maximum and resting heart rates.

Example:

MHR=201

RHR=48

Formula: (MHR-RHR)x desired% + RHR

To figure out 85% of MHR:

201 MHR

-48 RHR

===

153 x 85% = 130 + 48 = 178 => 85% MHR

Three things:

1. When it is very cold out, you don't sweat or overheat as much, causing your heart to work less hard.

2. While 171 may be your friend's LT heart rate, you won't stay at this heart rate for the duration of your LT run. You should not hit that number til toward the end of your surge. Start out as you did, about 5-10 beats per minute below your LT heart rate. As you fatigue from the surge, your heart will work harder reaching your magic number. Aim for about 5 minutes at 169-171.

3. During the summer time, don't be surprised if it gets 5 beaps per minute higher than you'd expect.

The 220-age formula can be off by as much as 20 beats per minute, depending on your physiology. Better to determine your true max heart rate. This is most accurately done in a lab stress but you can also do it yourself on the roads or track.

recover 2 days(thats important), go to a fitnesscenter,

start at 8mph and increase speed every 3minutes, just before you collapse take a look at your heartrate monitor.

Thats your max. HR

As others have said, the key here is to get a true HRmax. I've heard of the 220-age formula, but also 205-age/2 for more fit (and older) runners. Either way, if your HRmax is off, the HRM is pretty much worthless. Daniels suggests using 90% of HRmax for threshold runs, Pfitzinger suggests 88 to 92%.

The simplest test I have heard of for HRmax is to make sure that you're well rested and then do an all-out mile, really cranking the last 200.

How much climbing will you see in HR during the summer? Does HR really matter? Can't you just feel it?

So Jim the second HR formula 205-age/2 I don't understand. Take me for example 205-50/2=77.5 for my max? So just by sleeping I get in a pretty good workout.

um, fatolddumbguy, can't you do math? 205-age/2 yields 180 if you're 50 years old. unless of course this math major's wrong.

kartelite- youre wrong. it is 77.5 not 180. maybe its you whos dumb

Order of Operations

Perenthesis

Exponents

Multiplication

Division

Subtraction

50 years old

205 - 50/2 => 205 - 25 => 180

left out addition, too

it is 205-(age/2)..so for a 50 year old it would be

205-(50/2)= 205-25= 180

205 - (AGE/2)

The formula is still just a very rough approximation. I'm 54 and my HR was 197 when I checked

I'm glad we figured out how to correctly calc a worthless equation! Good job.

Bottom Line: Get out there and do a meaningful HRmax test! Do not trust any simple equation for HRmax especially if you're not very good at math ;-) Daniels has some interesting observations on HR training in Running Formula. Good stuff. (The 205-age/2 just happens to be pretty accurate in my case: 205-44/2 = 183, and that's just where I tested last year, vs. 176 for the standard formula.)

Thanks for the math lesson. Feel free to correct my grammar also. I've been doing math wrong all these years maybe that is why all my personal bests are better than the posted world records. The parenthesis are in the wrong place!

You guys were probably daydreaming about the "hottest high school runners" thread or somehting to that effect the day they taught mathmatical formulas in school.

Hey bumrun, you sure I'm wrong? Don't insult me when you can't do addition and subtraction.