43bpm, 107bpm

Thought I'd blog a couple of heart rates.

43bpm used to be my resting heart rate, although I've seen it much lower than that, depending on when I measure it. (Do you measure it on waking quietly or after being rudely awakened by the alarm clock? There's a huge range of values to be had there.)

No, 43bpm was the heart rate I saw the other night as I stood at my front door waiting for my Garmin to pick up the satellites. Incredibly low. I wonder what my minimum HR is? I haven't tried reading it for ages - I've given up trying to take my resting HR as there is such a large variance depending on how I wake up in a morning.

107bpm on the other hand is the average HR I recorded for a 4-mile run last night.

I have this fitness test I do every now and then. A year ago I ran a 4-mile route from home trying to average 9:00/mile for the whole route. I recorded the data on my Garmin and turned it into a 'Course'. I can then replay this route later and rerun the same route against a virtual 'me', thereby replaying the whole event exactly. Ignoring effects of heat and wind for a moment, the average heart rate for the run is then an indication of my fitness.

Clearly my ability to run 4 miles at 9:00/mile can't be used as a direct measure of marathon readiness, but it does give a good indication of how my running economy is progressing. It's also an easy recovery run, despite being a fitness test, so can be slotted into the training at any time.

Last night I recorded an average of 107bpm. This is only 1bpm higher than my best ever, recorded at my peak last summer.

A good sign! Providing I'm not too tired from all the training, the Eastleigh 10k should go well tomorrow!


I think I may have to record a new version of this 4-mile test - 107bpm is a bit silly even for a recovery run - some couch potatoes would have a resting HR that high.