Prolific as Always

I see my last post was almost two months ago. For those that know me, two posts in two months constitutes an active writing lifestyle for me.

Big developments since my last post! A marathon-running buddy recommended I traing by 'heart rate interval' as opposed to 'training by pace'.

A little research (Google knows all--ALL HAIL GOOGLE!) indicates that heart rate interval training is a more effective method of preparing for a half-marathon.

Thus, I am now officially training by heart rate interval.

First, you gotta have a heart rate monitor. Luckily I had one stashed away. It came with my GPS watch. It looked uncomfortable and I figgered only elite athletes needed something like that. So I tossed it in my closet and forgot about it.

Big mistake. Have I mentioned I share a closet with a FEMALE? Finding anything in there is an epic saga in and of itself. But that's a story for another post. Bottom line is I finally found it.

Looking annoyingly uncomfortable, this sucker spent months covered in high heels and random junk. Now it lives in my gym bag and, three to five times a week, around my chest.

Then you gotta identify your max heart rate (MHR). The easy way to do this is a simple math formula:

MHR = (208 - [0.7 x age])

Although studies show this calculation may actually be off by +- 10 beats for some people, it is by far the least painful and sweaty way to calculate your MHR (the gold standard for finding your MHR consists of doing a treadmill stress test. Since I find it stressful to get on a treadmill anyway, I chose to forego this method and instead stuck with what I know--math).

Armed with a calculated MHR of 175 bmp, I did one last little calculation to get my heart rate intervals:


Easy Run (recovery--YAY! EASY!) = 65 - 70% of MHR = 105 - 123 bpm

Training Run (aerobic training--GOOD WORKOUT!) = 75 - 80% of MHR = 131 - 149 bpm

Tempo Run (speed training--UM, OUCHIES?) = 88 - 92% of MHR = 154 - 161 bpm

Intervals (sprint training--HOLY SHIT! PAINFUL!) 95 to 100% of MHR = 166 - 175


And that's the tale of how my training for the Rock & Roll Half-Marathon got a little more complicated.

I'm running out of motivation (and coffee), so I'll end here. If you're interested in pursuing this topic further, I suggest you Google (ALL HAIL GOOGLE!) heart rate interval training. You'll get a million hits.

You can probably also find some good articles at Runners World.




I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly alert.