Running on consecutive days

[WalterZ86]

Hi guys, I run about 4 to 5 times a week, which are mainly easy runs to prevent injuries. I keep track of the number of heartbeats per kilometer, to compare my progress independently of speed, for the same routes. I have noticed in my logs that my heart rate / km is about 5 to 9% higher when running if I have been running the day before as well, compared to running when I have not been out for training the day before. Any idea if this fact slows down my progress? Do I need to alternative training and non-training days more? Or is a lower performance on consecutive days still beneficial to training progress in the long run? Side note: I don't suffer from sore legs or fatigue.

[t.parker]

Easy runs improve your aerobic base and they are good for you. This is what helps you run faster but with less effort. You didn't say how long your runs are etc. Next day performance may drop for many reasons. It will depend on the quality of your rest overnight, your nutrition, and well... general moodiness of your body. Sometimes it's just not a good day for a run 🙂 I do easy runs almost every day (5-6 times a week) of various distances. It's not a rule that the next day the performance drops. What I do, I keep my HR within the low-aerobic range without caring much about pace/distance. It's not a race but building the base. Even if performance drops, I will still do my base run. Also, I listen to my body and if it feels like I shouldn't run then I don't. The HR I try to stay within is 80%-89% of my LT. Currently, it is 131bpm-146bpm but it changes with LT. Because it's only 15 beats range sometimes it just requires to stop or start walking for a few seconds to drop HR and then continue. It doesn't matter, as the goal of such workouts is the base. I see no issue (at least in my case) of having an hour of such workout daily.

[WalterZ86]

Hi Parker,

My runs are usually between 5 and 10k. I take the (average HR bmp x duration in minutes) / distance in km.

Of course my street runs are less enduring than trail runs. But like I said, there's a clear difference in results when I have run the day before as well or not.

But I've started measuring HR only since April 1st, so data is still rather limited, 12 runs so far. I guess time will tell how fast my progress will be! 🙂

[t.parker]

If you want to run with HR don't rely on a wrist-based sensor but get the chest strap that responds to HR changes instantly. Otherwise, you might as well be guessing. Averaging HR doesn't tell much about your effort. For two readings of 110bpm and 160bpm, your average is 135bpm. If I had such numbers first is in zone 1, second is in zone 4 (out of 5) but the average is in my target zone 2. Does this mean, it has the same effect as I would be running in my target zone? No. Not at all. Now, here's an interesting thing. If you "jumping" around of your LT and going over it often during a single run, then your nervous system will "shift the gear". What does it mean for your run? It will be much harder to keep your HR lower while keeping the same pace. That's why, if you training with HR in mind, you want to keep your heart rate as long as possible in the target window. Well, I wouldn't train using HR without a chest strap. It's pointless due to the inaccuracy of the wrist-based sensor 🙂 But that's me 🙂

[Heybales · Accepted solution]

You have hit on side-issue of why HR isn't most accurate for calorie burn formula too.

Your HR next day at same pace being higher doesn't mean anything for performance. Doesn't mean your muscles needed more oxygen this day compared to prior day, requiring faster HR (that would be increased calories if that was case).

Your body was stressed, slightly unrecovered, that's all.

You could even be slightly more dehydrated, harder to get blood pumping for that O2, or perhaps even for cooling effects when thicker. May get worse as summer heat increases.

Recovery is going to be worse in a diet compared to not in a diet, if you have a big deficit/diet compared to reasonable, even worse recovery.

Good job on easy runs for what feels good, keep at a pace you could speak a whole short sentence before needing to stop talking to breath better. That's your aerobic base miles you need, ditto to all that advice given.

I'll disagree about chest strap though and say the optical HR sensor may work just perfectly fine for you - it does for many. For some it misses higher HR beats, for some it just plain cuts off going over certain level.

But if you aren't going that high - it really doesn't matter right now - confirm by stopping and taking 6-15 sec pulse at neck.

Shoot, I've had plenty of issue with chest strap and static false spikes both on bike and running, 3 different straps - so that is no guarantee anyway.

My runs are almost always recovery level, I'd preferred an optical sensor likely being accurate at that point then a 5-10 bpm false Inflation.

Bike on other hand is my fun and hard is fun, but false spikes staying 50 bpm inflated isn't useful for later review.

Considering over 30 yrs of endurance cardio training and keeping up with research studies and such, I've never heard of a metric of beats per KM, and certainly wouldn't attribute it to any sort of performance measurement or a basis for training changes.

Good old avgHR and maxHR tied to the type of run (intervals, LISS, ect) and elevation changes, and then pace - will allow the comparisons of improvement you are looking for. It obviously ends up being the same sort of thing without all the extra math - because even bpk doesn't take into account terrain changes by itself as a metric.

[emili]

Hey there @WalterZ86 welcome to the community. I think you have the answers you need already, but just two cents more.. don't micromanage your workout. Just do it and look at the overall statistics and data. See how you feel, what hurts, what doesn't hurt.. that sort of thing. Don't suck the joy out of doing something good for yourself. 

[t.parker]

@Heybales with chest straps the spikes happened to me when the battery was dying and I was using ANT+. Otherwise, never had problems (although I can only speak for PolarH10, the EliteHRV app could detect such false spikes hence I know what you're talking about). Optical sensors are fine but not wrist-based. Old PolarOH1 and a new revision of it released recently is actually pretty good, too. Most of my runs are base/recovery, too, and wrist HR (Sense) isn't slightly different but it's just a bunch of random numbers which is useless for training. The response from the strap is instant and aligns with actual effort, terrain, running form, and power. Maybe you are right, this is something that works just for me. I realize the accuracy may not be 100% but it's close enough to make use of the data, unlike wrist HR.