Marathon Training and Max Heart Rate

Marathon training has begun!

I modified a training program that I got from the book “Marathoning for Mortals” by John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield. It was recommended by a good friend of and best running I know named Susan Barth. It is a great book for anyone looking to run a half or full marathon.  Lots of good information about gear, nutrition, and training.

In the back of the book are also several training plans for all levels.  I’m for the first time trying the “Run” plan.  Previously I’ve done the walk-run and run-walk plans which are basically interval plans with different amount of walking vs running.

This time is running.  The plan is a little different than I’ve done before in that it is more time and effort based than mileage based.  Most training regimes I’ve followed before have given me a specific mileage to run on any given day.  This differs in that instead of telling me to run 6 miles on Thursday it wants me to run 40 minutes at between 60-75% Max heart rate.

Which leads me to an interesting topic.  What the heck is my Max Heart Rate?  The old standby method is to subtract your age from 220. Being 37 that puts my max at 183.

Another method says to multiply your age by .7 then subtract from 207.  So for me that would be 207-(0.7*37)=181.9 or 182 because who can count .9 of a heartbeat anyway.

Yet another is 210-(0.5*Age) which for me yields 191 bpm.

Here is a calculator that using several methods. for my age it gives me a range of 180 for 191.  Heart Rate Calculator

These are all estimates and its a good place to start.  The best if you want a truly accurate number is to perform a cardio assessment.  Basically what you are going to do is push yourself hard and see what your peak heartrate is.

Again there are several ways of doing this.  My favorite, and I use that term loosely, is by running a hill.  You’ll need a heart rate monitor and find your “favorite” hill.  Warm up holding a moderate pace for 10 minutes.  Then, and this is the fun part, attack the hill as fast as you can for 3 minutes.  Rest for 3 minutes and then attack the hill as fast as possible again for 3 minutes.  Use the highest reading during the second run as your max. Which for me is 196.

The basic idea is to push as absolutely as hard as you can and see what happens.

Ok so here is the training plan, today is highlighted in Yellow:

The weight lifting and Power lifting are classes at El Jefe Crossfit.  These are great! I’ve always been hesitant to lift weights because in the past they have always strained my back.  I never was taught how to lift properly when I was a younger.   The coaches at El Jefe are very patient and eager to teach me how to lift properly and encouraging me to push myself.

This feels like an ambitious training schedule but with the help of Coach V, and the addition of Coach Dubreil and Coach Valdez from El Jefe I feel like its doable.  Although I just realized there are 2 Coach V’s.

Up Tomorrow is the 40 minute run in the morning and powerlifting in the evening.  The morning run will be a little different.  I need to do a 5K speed run to submit for the AZ Sunrise series virtual run from last Saturday.   Until then, C-YA!