Heart Monitor Training

I'm quickly learning that there's alot more to this heart rate training than I previously realized. Saturday morning was my maximum heart rate test where I was able to get to a track and get an estimate of my max HR. I headed to Huntsville State Park Sunday morning for my long run in what could've been day 1 of my HR training. I brought my watch but forgot the chest strap so day 1 of HR training was a no go. (I was in A zone the whole time while running....I just have no idea if it was the CORRECT zone.) Day 2 of HR training went better as I walked out the door with the chest strap on to make sure I didn't forget it. I was running late and had just enough time to enter my max HR into the Garmin before taking off on the run. Without really looking at zones I tried to keep my HR at 150-155 or below. I was really surprised at the additional effort required running uphill compared to downhill or flat surface running. I was able to keep my HR at the desired level for the most part. It was pretty cool to see the breakdown in the garmin training center of the amount of time and distance that I spent in the different training zones.

I researched zones somewhat last night post run and got somewhat to major overloaded with all the different calculators out there. I never realized that zones can be computed using either straight percentages or the Karhonen heart rate reserve method. For now I believe I'm going to use the straight percentage zones that are in my Garmin and see how that goes.

I also learned that Garmin will be introducing another Forerunner next month; the next model in the 3 series line. I may have to try this one out as the waterproofnesss of it may be just what my overly sweaty self needs. I also learned that moisture is what most likely killed the beeps on both my 205 and 305 models.