Used the cloudflow for most of last year - logged about 1000km on them. Light and fast - used for up to 21km distance. They are what you'd expect for a RM600 pair of running shoes - the only problem is, they hardly seem to go on sale locally.

i have this burning question and hope to get some advise and guidance, i am 39 yrs old (max HR of 181). I was 154kg in Oct 2019 when i started running and today i am at 135kg.

My pace when i started was 13-15 mins/km and now i am averaging 10mins/km. When i try to push harder to pace of 9 and below, within few minutes i will hit the Zone 5 (90% of max HR) and i would not dare to continue.

The question:
1- is my HR spiking too fast into Zone 5 comparing to another person that ranges in Zone 3 doing pace of 8 mins/km related to my body weight and fitness level?
2- should i continue myself to go beyond my comfort level in zone 5 to sort of train my heart n body to adapt to higher demand?
3- does it indicate underlying health condition like narrow heart vessels forcing constricted blood flow causing the heart rate to spike to zone 5?

I am also considering going for stress test but would be good to know if the mitigation factors are known by others before so tht i could prep better for my stress test. thank you.

Deleted

This post has been edited by DeAct: Apr 9 2024, 11:21 PM

Thanks so much for the advise and it does give some reassurance. With regards to zone 2, that i could achieve with brisk walking so will try to incorporate that in my usual staple. hopefully over time, brisk walking could result in maintaining zone 1 that i could then take to light jog to get to zone 2 and henceforth to ideal ability to do 5km under 30 mins without having my heart exploding haha...

#bajetrunner reporting in !

Hi,

I will go straight to the point.

(1) What is your purpose of running? Love of Sport? Get Fit? Or Lose weight?
(2) What is your BMI? What is your body fat?

Some do it for cardio, some do it for weight loss/maintenance, some just love running, some are hooked on endorphin.

If you need to go for stress test, just go. The doctor will let you know your health.

It depends on your health & fitness, hard to answer (1) to (3). You can be at BMI 25, and low body fat %, but still will hit zone 5 very fast, but run at higher pace for middle distance (ie 1k to 10k). Or you can be at BMI 19 and low body fat but run long duration at higher pace but majority at zone 5 (although doctors will strongly discourage you).

Dun compare to the elite or even athletic type recreational runners, some have years of running, so they can run pace 8 min/km at heart rate zone 3 or 2 or even 1, even with BMI > 21 and body fat > 20%. Generally, long distance runners have both lower BMI and lower body fat.

Important for you -> see a doctor for your question (3), do you have high BP? do you have high cholesterol? do you have a underlying heart issue?

If you want to lose weight, it is fine to stay in heart rate zone 3 for most of your runs, aerobic zone. Some runs/jogs, you may want to do 1 min or even 3 min at higher pace, pushing your heart to zone 4 or zone 5... then a similar 1 min or 3 min slower pace, so your heart rate drops to zone 2, even walking. It depends on your health and fitness level, HIIT or interval, you can once a week or twice a week. But if you want to do HIIT daily, ok too just keep it short as long as you are injury free.

So for 9 months till now, you lose weight from 154kg to 135kg, and your pace moved from 13-15 min/km to 10 min/km. Well Done! Important to do your upperbody workout, to ensure you maintain muscles strength and mass while burning body fat.

I presume you dun have a GSP watch, and use treadmill HR monitor, go get a GPS watch, it will give you a peace of mind in your journey of fitness. With a GPS HR watch, just stay in the avg HR in zone 3; most people will have a HR drift, longer you run at constance pace constance cadence, avg HR per km will drift higher. As long as 70% stay in zone 3, it will be fine.

If you want to know, i was at 66kg, and my first attempt at pace 8 min/km, i can barely lasted 1 km, and was panting badly after running only 1km, i think the treadmill HR showed me hitting zone 5 few times. Fast forward 11 months later, i ran 10km race in sub 60 mins but at weight 56kg where HR 60% in zone 3 (rest in zone 4/5) with GPS HR watch. 3 years later, at 66kg, i run 10km, at pace 8 min/km, my HR is in zone 2, and i can talk freely; however, when i am in a "de-trained", my 10km run in 80 mins is at totally zone 5 at weight 66kg.

Question: Do you want to bear with the higher risk? Running in zone 5 for 60 mins, or even 120 mins? I have seen recreational marathoner runner complete in 3, 4, 5 or 6 hours in totally zone 5. They look fine after the run.

No point right? Putting so much effort, to change your life style and die from taking so much risk at this early stage.

The fitter you are, heart is so much stronger on top of a stronger muscular-skeletal, so at constant pace and fixed distance, avg HR will drop. But some people just can push more at HR zone 5.

Just stay safe, if your objective is at this moment is to lose weight, stay in zone 3, over time, you will be fitter and still run faster in zone 3. And you will also be able to run in zone 5.

This post has been edited by hondaracer: Jun 30 2020, 05:50 PM

If I have high cholesterol, will it make it harder for me to run?

Just took up running last month. Can barely even run 2km non stop. Trying out couchto5k program.

Any budget friendly GPS HR watch to recommend?

In my opinion, having a high cholesterol level would predispose you to high blood pressure, which would be the issue.

Since you just started running 1 month ago, the reason you could barely last 2km is due to a poor aerobic base. Just keep running & you'll improve.
As always, a combination of aerobic & resistance training would be beneficial.

hmmm so high blood pressure is why my heart rate spikes up quickly even tho just running for a while eh... fml...

Well done. On 1 & 2, increasing pace even by 1 min per km is quite a lot. That explains the heart rate spike. Perhaps can try 15 to 30 seconds increase, over a few months, and go from there.

Thank you so much for taking the time for providing the guidance, it shows in your passion to help others and may you be blessed always for your kind deed. I bet i wouldnt be able to write at length but would try to share as per your input above. My actual intention is to lose weight and be fit before i end up triggering the time bomb that i am currently. In other words, with my BMI of 44 and body fat of 35.7 (based on my Omron Connect Scale), I am highly candidate for major health issues like BP and Diabetes.

Thankfully as of my last medical check up done 9 months ago, my BP, sugar and cholesterol are in order but the doc has indicated that if i dont reduce, the numbers could turn the other way round and it was sort of a wake-up call, i know it could take me so long to wake up, but at least i got up from the slumber.

As for the devices, I am currently using Garmin watch with heart strap and rarely do treadmill runs as i prefer the outdoors, i have also hooked my Garmin Connect to Strava and that has helped me in a sense where it shows my comparison from the time i started to where i am currently. You are right, I am able to do 5km today in 56 mins with average HR of 145bpm in comparison to when i started 2.75km at 42.55min (15.36 pace) with average HR of 153bpm.

Probably i am getting slightly more edgy as i get more active to try to make my pace better but a good friend of mine who does regular 5.5min/km pace did indicate that i have to be realistic with my body right now, one of the good motivating statement he gave was that, if with his current weight, he is asked to lug around additional weight to reflect my current body weight, in no way would he be able to finish 5km at my pace (or even finish at all!).

That gave me the comfort and likewise for cycling, today i have all the road bikes buzzing past me but there will come a day when all these weight will go and my training at this weight limit would come in handy to propel me much further... it has not been an easy journey but i am a different person than i was 6 months ago. i will be going for my medical check up in Nov and i am certain the numbers would be much better overall and my stress test would also reflect the same.

i cant thank you enough for your response and this avenue also did make me dare approach people like my friend whom otherwise i would not have asked for opinions and funny enough that for every 1 person at the park who nudges his wife/gf to say "hei check that fat dude out trying to run", there are other 9 who would look at you and say "go on dude, everyday is a step towards progress"

truly a great idea, saw this interesting study about getting your heart accustomed to certain zone (ie zone 3) and not letting it go up or below whilst slowly increasing your pace. In other words, teaching the dude not to go over excited just cos the legs are going faster hahaha... will try this in my next few runs and guess my pace would suffer but if it is part of training, then probably should give it a try!

eh.. blood pressure & heart rate is different yea.

High cholesterol may lead to high blood pressure which leads to other risk such as atherosclerosis or heart attack.
Regular exercise may help improve your cholesterol level.

Your heart rate spiking with an increase in physical activity could be due to various factors, for example a poor fitness level/cardiovascular system.
Think of it as your heart needing to pump more (thus higher heart rate) for the blood to flow through your whole body.
The more you exercise, the stronger your heart will grow, thus able to pump more blood -> so your heart rate would spike less (for the same intensity that you're comparing to).

What you need is spent more time walking not running. Try to spend 1 hour walk time or more everyday if possible..Drink not too much water but a lot. You body will start to stress out, so have a self control and DO NOT increase you food intake..

You are too heavy and lacking fitness for running. You will get trouble rather then gain if you run..

You can also follow various running FB pages who will share their experiences. Great job and keep it up!!

in my opinion, for health, should not bother much on pacing, but, consistency;

be consistent on your workout activities (commitment like 4 hours per week), not only running, but a mixture of them (cardio, strength, etc);

maintain healthy diet & routine, be responsible to yourself;

in long term, you will see the impact as well as improving fitness level;

keep it up

Hi Lord,

There are good suggestions here by other members here for you.

If your objective is to lose weight, to drop from BMI 44 to lower and drop body fat. Stay focus on weight loss, do not bother about pace improvement. As most people here say, focus on consistency, and avoid injury. Running fast gives you immediate gratification, but if you get physical injuries, it will de-rail your key plan.

Set a goal, daily 60 mins of aerobic runs at aerobic HR, and you need to do some strength training, equal focus. Goal is not to be a body builder, but to maintain muscle mass and strength, use a gym, you will get some motivation. Important to note - biologically, body does not know much about diet lah, lose fats lah... it will use glycogen and protein plus fats for energy. Body does not always burn fats. So if you do NOT do much upper body strength, you will lose muscles as body burn muscles for energy.

To lose weight, it is a simple formulae: calorie input - calorie used = weight loss/gain. Eat more calorie, no matter what you do or how much workout, it will be minimum or zero weight loss. So you need to watch what you eat, eat lesser but dun cut too much, the daily workout will burn more energy. Aim for 1-3 kg loss weekly, but do add once a week, a "cheat day" to eat your favourite food in moderation.

Having said that... a human body cannot tolerate constant weight loss... natural survival mechanism will kick in... your weight loss will plateau few times.... unfortunately, most people will cut more calorie intake to break the plateau... reality... it takes time to lose weight. When your body survival mechanism is activated... you may lose muscles, as body will strip those muscles less used... hence, do whole body workout. Eat sufficient protein to ensure your strength and muscle mass loss is minimized. It is important to ensure you get all the vitamin and minerals as well.

If you dun believe, go see the jews in prison camps in WW2, they are skin and bones as they were eating so much less, when they were rescued. Go see a dietician, understand the amount of macro and micro to eat.

Finally, you cannot continue dieting continuously for months, best you set breakpoints, say 3-4 months, rest 3-5 weeks where you maintain weight. It will help your body, weight loss has many other implications. If you continue too long and lose too much, you may have "excess skin" issue, will result in skin removal surgery, because the skin cannot adjust that fast, you may try sauna few times in your weight loss, to help skin get tighter, 2-3 times a week.

Join a nearby running clubs, it will help you.

All the best.

This post has been edited by hondaracer: Jul 5 2020, 03:57 PM

Hi sifus,

Facing difficulty in using run tracking apps on an Android 10 phone (Xiaomi Poco F1).

Problem: Once I start tracking my run with the app, the app only tracks my run for a short distance before stopping completely. As a result, I am unable to track the distance that I have run. I did some digging online and found that this may be linked to Android app location permissions.

Refer to pics for screenshots
On the Google Maps permissions, there are three options:
1) Allow all the time
2) Allow only while using the app
3) Deny

But for the Nike app permissions, there are only two options:
1) Allow only while using the app
2) Deny

I believe this problem is caused by not having the option to grant the Nike app access all the time. I face this problem with Strava and Mapmyrun as well. Once I start my run, I lock my phone (hence the screen will be turned off). So it assumes that I am not using the app maybe?

Does any android phone user face this problem?

Or, can android users recommend apps that are working?


Thanks!



This post has been edited by ming24: Jul 5 2020, 08:02 PM

looking at honor magic watch 2 as a gps watch....worth buying?

Do you strava? If yes, the activities in this watch does not sync to Strava.

Why not consider the Amazfit range of GPS watches like Amazfit GTR or Stratos 3?