Question/guidance about running style

[SunsetRunner]

Dear Fitbit community,

I would like to ask for Your guidance, coming from Your experience. I'm 29 years old male, weighing about 84 kg.

Recently I got my Fitbit Ionic and since I have much more insight over my workouts.

I'm a casual runner and the need of running came from the desire to stay fit. I need to stay fit because I really love to do mountain hiking. Unfortunately, I don't live in the mountains, so I can't hike every day or even every week.

I do run 5 km distances, no more and I would like it to stay this way if it's even possible. Since the beginning of my adventure with running, my running style was to run in my peak zone. To be more specific: I can do 5 km with avg. pace of 5:40 (steady pace, every km is done in about 5:40), during this type of run, my hr starts from 140-160 to increase to ~170 bpm for the first 2 km, then rises to 180-185 for the last 2,5 km. It is tiresome for me (especially the last part, when I'm at 180-185 bpm), but I can manage with this 3 times a week.

Recently, I tried to run differently - I tried to stay in my cardio zone for the whole time. My goal was to stay within ~150 bpm range. It was a whole different experience. My avg pace changed from 5:40 to 7:30-8 minutes/km and it was really hard to "run" so slow. On the other hand, it was much easier and after the run, I felt much better, I wasn't tired by this exercise and I felt like I could do it again.

My question is: which form of running will benefit me more in the long run? I'm not sure if straining my heart to almost maximum bpm (191) is the way to go or does it do more harm than good? Should I stay in my cardio zone and wait patiently for my pace to increase while HR stays at 150-160?

I'm kindly asking for any advice or guidance from more experienced runners.

Best regards

[SunsetRunner]

You may want to try interval training. Running with steady pace won't improve your performance significantly. When I was preparing for my first 5k race I've been doing HIIT twice a week. I had intervals of running at a comfortable pace, resting pace and sprinting. Sprinting in short, intense bursts is what you need to improve your VO2Max. The more efficient you're going to be using oxygen the less your heart will have to pump. Steady pace run is also good but the target of such training is slightly different. Adding strength training is also a very good idea. Mind that sprint will make you out of breath probably and will increase your HR quite lot but the whole magic happens not during a workout but during resting. Without enough rest, your HR will be getting higher during next runs as a sign of overtraining, so don't forget about that important element.

Add variety to your runs and don't be afraid of getting really tired. You don't need to run always 5k. For endurance and stamina, you may run at an even slower pace but try to run a longer distance. On the other hand, you can add 12 minutes "fitness test" which is running like hell as if somebody's chasing you for 12 minutes  ( I had such run in my routine every 2 weeks ). You won't reach 5k mark but believe me - it will feel like a job well done 😉 Add running hills ( both incline and decline ). The more you repeat and not changing your routine, the less progress you're going to see when time passes.

[SunsetRunner]

Hey,

Sorry for the late reply, I was doing some research about what You mentioned.

Firstly, many thanks for Your answer and pointing out directions to go.

Running was my way to stay in shape, but I relied on its routine: get out, get moving on the same, known path and after to get back to daily activity. I really liked that routine, because I never had any aspirations to become a serious runner or to improve myself over 5:30/km pace.

I've read about interval training and I'll try to incorporate it into my workout routine. I'm running three times a week, so I'll try to do interval running once a week.

My main concern writing this post was: if keeping HR close to 100% (180-185 bpm out of 191 possible) would do myself more harm than good.

[SunsetRunner]

@SunsetRunner your heart doesn't know what is maximum HR. The formula used to calculate it makes assumptions and tries to simplify whole thing but reality is that real heart may not follow that formula 100% 🙂 I can reach higher HR than my max if I try really hard 🙂

Interval training assumes that you do short bursts of high-intensity exercise with rest or low-intensity activity in between to let your heart to cool down a bit. Even if you elevate your HR to your max you won't be staying like that very long. With time you will notice that your HR goes down and you need more effort to elevate it.