Heart Rate

This is the second time of trying to record this post - last time the computer crashed on me - honest, it wasn't New Year's day fever!

I think that I've worked out how the Heart Rate Monitor works, at any rate I'm getting Telemetry out of it - although it does seem to be coming from a different Space/Time continuum!
You see, one's maximum heart rate decreases with age, and there is a formula for working it out - in fact, I found 4 without really looking very hard at all. However, they seem to agree that my MHR should be between 159 and 165, so I should work my training on various percentages of those numbers, dependent upon what I am trying to achieve with each session. Except that the MHR can be anywhere up to 25 out. So my MHR is somewhere between 134 and 190. Very scientific!
Time for a reality check, and some data from a real run with my real heart rate, my first run since Xmas day. Firstly, this was the longest run that I have done so far (in my life, not just since I started training for Ironbridge), 6.66 miles over to Shifnal and back. Noteworthy was that I startled a buzzard into flight on my way out. On the way back, there were 3 of them circling overhead! Also noteworthy was my average heart rate of 162. This puts my (average) effort firmly above the lactic threshold - i.e., in the area that my body can sustain for about 5 seconds! Sadly, the area of science that I am breaching appears to have to do with how close to maximum my heart was, rather than how I can cover 6 miles in 5 seconds (fast this may be, but it doesn't even come remotely close to upsetting Einstein's theories). Support for this comes from the fact that the MHR recorded was 172 - the figure for a 52-year old - and this was while just striding out downhill, rather than desperately pushing myself. It appears that my MHR falls somewhere nearer to the "25 either way" rather than the figure calculated with reference to my age!
Since the whole point of the Heart Rate Monitor was to increase the scientific rigour of my training (I have about 10 weeks to increase my speed from 11-minute miles to 8-minute miles if I'm going to reach my target of a podium finish) I need to know whether I'm running in the "Aerobic Zone", the "Anaerobic Zone", or the "Red Line Zone" if this Heart Rate stuff is going to be worth anything.
So, let's look at this a different way. If I need to run 13 consecutive miles in 8 minutes to hit my target 1:45, can I even run ONE mile in 8 minutes? Hmmm... Now I reckon (count ONE and TWO and THREE...) that I'm hitting about 4 paces a second (the light infantry marches at 120 paces per minute, and running would equate to double time, so that makes sense) and at 1 yard per pace, that's 240 yards per minute. 220 yards per furlong, 8 furlongs per mile, so that's easily a mile in 8 minutes. In fact, all that I have to do is increase my stride length to 2 yards and that's a mile in 3 minutes 36 seconds - let's see, the current world record is 3:43. Perhaps stride length is the problem. Let's put some facts into this dream of immortality, and actually run a mile - actually, it's about 1.1 miles, but will give me more of an idea of what I can really manage than these glib calculations. And I'm off - pounding down the path, feeling good, along the level past the sports centre, and turn the corner up towards the Rose and Crown and it's getting harder. It gets harder still as I go past the Rose and Crown itself (no, not dehydration, it's just a rather serious uphill stretch), past the Old Rectory and the new Church of Somebody or other, stretch out as the path turns downhill towards home, put in some effort as I near the end of the circuit, and I've made it in 8:54. That equates to a mile in 8:05- close enough for now. Take a short walk to regain my breath, and do another circuit - this time in 9:36 (8:43 equivalent). Maybe this interval training is the way to do it - work my way up to running 13 consecutive miles in the magic 8 minutes, and I've got it - it worked for Roger Bannister!
So, from now on, you'll find me on a Tuesday night running an ever-increasing number of consecutive miles. Incidentally, while pushing myself to set a personal best mile time, my average heart rate was 166, and I maxed out at 193. That's the heart of a 28-year old! And as for personal best, I can remember as a scrawny, 5 foot tall 16-year old I was running under 6 minutes, and not being competitive then, either.