Training Day #26

Today is a run day! My plan calls it a “Test Run” day. By test run it mean running at a higher heart rate zone for 2 to 3 minutes. The higher heart rate (HR) zones will be Zone 2 and Zone 3, which are 60% to 69% and 70% to 79% respectively. For the past few weeks, I have been getting a feeling that my HR setting have been a bit off. When I have started my run, especially today, I have been getting HR Zones that are above what I feel like I am doing. For example, when I started my run today my watch was saying that I was in HR Zone 2 instead of 1. So this test run exercise was not going to be accurate. So I just ran it like a normal run day.

When I got some free time, I did some research in my Garmin watch settings to see if I could change or modify my Hear Rate settings. I found on the Garmin Connect website that I could change the calculation type. So I changed it from Percent of Max Heart Rate (most common) to Percent of Heart Rate Reserve. This change uses HRmax – HRrest to determine a HRreserve. This came closer to my actual HR zones that I normally see in my workouts. Only time will tell to see if this works any better.

Sorry for the rant,  but I figured I would share what I have found through a bit of research. Just remember that is not a guide and all exercise advice should be consulted with your doctor. 

Key Takeaways:

1. Change your HR Zones to make sure it is tailored to you!
2. If something doesn’t seem right, try to figure it out!