Why you need to learn to run at a low heart rate

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Today we want to talk about why you need to buy at least the simplest heart rate monitor and monitor your heart rate while running. Running, like any physical activity, benefits the body and strengthens the cardiovascular system only if you follow certain rules. Low heart rate is one of the conditions.

In an unprepared person, the heart rate while running can reach 170–180 beats per minute, and during acceleration in the red zone and 200–220. However, the optimal heart rate for regular jogging is 120-140 beats per minute. Since all people are different and each has its own physiological characteristics, some have not to run, but to walk for quite a long time before they can even jog without stepping over the established bar. It's terribly boring, but if you want to achieve your goals and at the same time really heal, and not kill your heart, you have to endure a little.

How our heart works while running

Arthur Lidyard in his book "Running with Lidyard" very clearly describes the work of our heart and how running affects the cardiovascular system.

Exercise helps the heart beat sharply, evenly, strongly, and easily to supply well-oxygenated blood to the body. The heart is the same muscle that we, unfortunately, attach much less importance to than everyone else. Some people work a lot to increase the volume of the biceps or the ideal shape of the buttocks, but practically do not think about how strong one of the most important muscles is - the heart.

A strong heart needs much less effort to pump more oxygenated blood at a time. It gets tired more slowly, and a trained person can do more work before the heart reaches its maximum heart rate. Lydyard compares it to a properly cared-for car engine. Even in old age, a trained heart remains much stronger and healthier and can withstand more than commonly believed loads.

A faster resting heart rate means that either there are fat deposits (bad cholesterol) on the walls of your arteries, or they are simply not elastic and developed enough. This means that you need to work to strengthen them. But this must be done gradually, moving forward in small steps.

The decrease in the pulse rate continues, because as the arteries adapt to the accelerated blood flow, they become more elastic and their lumens increase.

The cardiovascular system of people with a sedentary lifestyle works 20 times less efficiently than those who constantly do aerobic exercise. During such workouts, the cardiovascular system expands like a balloon, and gradually repetitive loads will stretch the entire system and make it more elastic. As a result, it will increase even at rest. All this provides more powerful and free blood flow, improving the overall physical condition of the runner, and helps to get rid of cholesterol and atheroma.

Aerobic and anaerobic running

Aerobic running- this is running on the verge of the most stable state, when an athlete can fully provide oxygen to the work of his body at this level of stress. As soon as oxygen debt appears, running immediately goes into anaerobic (that is, without the participation of oxygen).

Anaerobic running- this is a run on the brink of possibilities, when the body no longer has enough oxygen. Usually, with such a run, the acidification process begins, or (the same oxygen debt). Anaerobic exercise is just the stress that we need in order to move to the next level.

Sometimes runners use running in the anaerobic zone to move to the next stage, but for a very short time. Our goal is aerobic running, as it allows you to systematically increase your stay in the most stable state without overtraining.

According to The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing, subtract your age from 180 to find out at what heart rate you enter the anaerobic zone. If you have had a serious injury or are recovering from an illness, subtract 10 more. If you have had a break from training in a year, have recently had a few colds or flu, have allergies or have asthma - that's an additional −5. If in the past two years you have not had the problems listed above with a constant training schedule (4 times a week), leave 180 minus age. If, after two years, you have made noticeable progress, you can add 5 more to the result.

So, running at a low heart rate (aerobic running) strengthens the cardiovascular system, helps build a strong base that allows us to go further, really makes us stronger and more enduring. Abuse of running at a high heart rate at the initial levels (especially when overweight) does not lead to strengthening, but, on the contrary, to wear and tear of the heart!

Low pulse start

Immediately, you won't be able to achieve high results, and you just need to put up with it. Start gradually, almost step by step. Even if your muscles are able to bring you to a high speed, your heart is not ready for this, since you hardly devoted as much time and attention to strengthening your heart muscles as to slender / strong / beautiful (emphasize the right) legs! Yes, it will be terribly boring, you will walk 5 km in an hour (and this is quite real), and during this time the thought of giving up all this will appear in your head more than once or twice! But if you really want to be healthy, strengthen your heart, not get injured and achieve the set results, you will have to get a heart rate monitor and run at a low heart rate (120-140 beats per minute) until you see that with an increase in pace, your the heart still beats evenly.

Start with three workouts per week for no more than half an hour. If your heart rate does not allow you to run, and even when jogging lightly rises above 140 beats per minute, go. Try race walking if it's boring to walk. Then, after a week of training, increase the time and add another 5-10 minutes. Progress will depend primarily on your physical condition, but not least on your patience and consistency!

Finally, we offer you a video from the Skirun school, which very clearly and simply explains why it is necessary to start training with a low heart rate.