Effort 1 Vs heart rate

by Sunil
(Singapore)

Heart rate vs. pace in zone 1.

"Dear Marius,

Thanks for the program.

Just started to follow sub 4.5 hour plan. I have been running since last year and my longest run so far is 25km in May 2010, I completed in 2hour 59 min.

I am in the 2nd week of the sub 4.5 plan, and I am comfortably able to follow the program so far.
As per the plan, In effort 1 where the heart rate is supposed to be less than 137, and speed is expected to be 6.06 min/km, however I have observed that for heart rate below 137, I am able to get speed 10min/km.

Is there something wrong in my training and what should I do to improve.

Thanks in advance."

Answer: Hi Sunil, this is no worry at all. If you do a search through the previous answers I've given, you see it explained there.

Basically is goes like this : you want to either stick to pace or heart rate in your schedule - not both. This will give you the right type of structure (different in either pace or in heart rate) to continue improving on the way. Some prefer heart rate (like I personally do), and some prefer pace - but try not to get fixed with comparing pace and heart rate. These are just two different type of approaches and you want to pick one of them !

In your case, you may want to stick to pace as you are able to run below 137 at 10 km/hr. This may indicate that you are in better shape than your goal time - and the 10k/half marathon down the road will give you that answer.

I wish you all the best,

kind regards,
Marius

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