My maximum heart rate was 200. Is this bad?!?!?
SO I have seen lots of people doing the C25K. Is it normal to suck this bad when starting out? Any tips? HELP!! I am going to try to keep this up. And try to build my resistance and hopefully I will be able to actually do the intervals for the entire time one day. I do have to say. It was kind of fun to challenge my body more than usual. My legs feel like jello. My fingers swelled up like sausages too (water retention?). Is this normal?
I would so love to hear any tips, anything I can try, what I should expect? Thanks for all your help!
Have a great day!
Yay for you!!! You are right where I was just a short month ago! First of all, it WILL get easier. Keep it up. Heart rate of 200 does sound high...there is a formula for figuring out your max heart rate for a woman. Google it. I get mine to 170, if it goes higher, I walk. Also, someone told me to focus on endurance (amount of time you can run) not speed (mph) so I run very slow. But now I can run 9min/walk1 for 30 minutes and cover a little over 2 miles. Proud of you!!!
ReplyDeleteI think it was a success because you started! Good for you! It is normal to feel that way when you start. Sometimes I had to repeat weeks during the program. My fingers swelled too, I thought it was because it was summer and really hot when I started the program but it still happens to me sometimes now too. Wonder what that means...Keep up the great work though! You will be a runner before you know it!
ReplyDeleteYes, 200 is probably too high hon. Slow it down. Seriously, walk at like 3 - 3.5 (or whatever feels good while being a bit challenging) then don't run more than half a mile higher. So if you're running at 4 or 4.5 mph, that's just fine. Endurance as Tina said is way more important than speed. I still only run at 5 mph and have been running for more than a year and a half! Keep it up, just do what you can to start out and don't worry if you aren't perfect, just keep repeating weeks as needed.
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! I am going to watch my heart rate and not worry about the amount of time I am running. I am not running very fast now I just cant run for very long. I will repeat the first week until I can actually get to 60 seconds. According to the Mayo Clinic my heart rate should be between 126 - 153 any my max should be 178. I will watch this. Going to do some research on the swelling. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteAwesome!!!! I'm so happy that you started the C25K. I've done a few levels of it before, and run a couple of 5 and 10k races... years ago. Its a wonderful way to test your newfound body!!!
ReplyDeleteRun SLOW. Run slooooooooooooow. RUN SLOW! That's my advice to you. Always go way slower than you think you should - it will help avoid injury, etc. As others have said, figure out your max HR (yes, I think 200 is way too high!) and go from there. Great job!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the advice to run slower. Also, since you are starting from zero experience, you might try 30-second running intervals and work your way up to 60. 30 seconds is enough to crank up your heart rate, but probably not enough to get it up to 200. Maybe 30 seconds running and 90 seconds walking until you get used to it. I admire you for giving it your best shot right away!
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