slowing down is hard to do

09Feb07

Recovering from a virus, I was advised by an expert friend to do two or three gentle 5k+ runs, before increasing intensity or distance. In the past I’ve always come out of illness like a bull at a gate, trying to catch up for lost time. Now my strategy is all patience. The fact that I’ve lost three weeks, actually means the return should be even more gradual.

Claire Lane, who conducted my maximal test at the Bath University Human Performance Centre, also advised that if my heart rate rose beyond the appropriate zone I should ease back, to ensure that exercise remained appropriate for my conditioning or the training schedule.

I’ve not been good at this, because sometimes it seems to involve running uncomfortably slowly. There is always a tendency to push too hard, because we are driven to believe we must be making an effort: “If it isn’t hurting, it isn’t working”. Only last Friday I ran up a hill, pushing my heart rate up to 163 bpm, when it should have been no higher than 149, especially considering that it was the first day I was not sick. But the past couple of days, I’m starting to get the hang of it.

It is just intuitive to run up a hill. However, the advice not to is echoed by Tony Hope, of heart rate monitor firm Polar. He says that when using their OwnZone function (not available on my model, unfortunately) the watch will indicate you should stop and walk if the intensity of the workout, or hill, is judged potentially injurious. Their latest models can judge the variability in the interval between each heart beat to determine exactly how fit or recovered the body is (even within a workout) and advise accordingly. The Polar site has good information for recovering runners, although the examples for a virus do not cover a period as long as three weeks.

So this week, when I have been trying to keep below 149 bpm, I have stopped and walked more and more if there was an incline that was raising the heart. It is a strange discipline to acquire, but one I’ll need to learn more about as I’m trying to pursue a recovery, rather than work, based approach to training. UK Sport has a useful document on RBT.

Resting Heart Rate 50

Weight 71.5 kg

Mood

Exercise Energy Consumed 797 kcal (7k run, 10 mins bike)

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1 Greg on Feb 16th, 2007 said:

Indeed, slowing down can be the hardest part! I’ve used my HR monitor on-and-off now for over two years but still cannot manage to hold myself back on recovery days. Is there something hard-wired within us to go as hard as possible when the adrenaline is flowing, or am I captive to a culture that overvalues hard work? Either way, my fitness suffers.
My watch can be set to alert me if I’m outside of my desired heart rate range, but the *beep* is unbearable. I keep threatening myself that one day I’ll turn it on.