Used a Polar Heart Rate Monitor for First Time

[RugbyGuy]

Not to thread jack (what everyone says before the derail a thread big time)

But as a young buck who still has to run a PFT every now and then, thus needs to stay fast, how many of my E sessions should be tempo/fun run/ intervals and how many should just be a good ole LSS?

Depends on what stage of training you're in. If it's Base, then they're all LSS within the HR parameters for the first 5-6 weeks as per the template. After 5-6 weeks higher intensity/tempo comes back.
If you're doing Continuation, then you're encouraged to make a portion of your E sessions tempo or speed.

So that's my question. Right now I am doing BB, so they are all pretty slow (actually humbling how slow I have to run to stay within the HR guidelines). It at the end of this, I was going to run Black professional. So if I did a LSS run in line with my heavy week, would that be too often (or too little), being every 3rd Saturday or so?

My only running related goal is to be able to comfortably get under 20min in my 3 mile PFT. Maybe grind my teeth and get under 19min if I had too. But I have no aspirations of running a half or full marathon, so I figured LSS runs would be mostly a waste, since a 5k distance isn't really something I need to build tons of miles a week volume for (or so I've been told). But I never thought about what a LSS run would do for my heart before reading the Conditioning book.

[Saracen]

Not to thread jack (what everyone says before the derail a thread big time)

But as a young buck who still has to run a PFT every now and then, thus needs to stay fast, how many of my E sessions should be tempo/fun run/ intervals and how many should just be a good ole LSS?

Depends on what stage of training you're in. If it's Base, then they're all LSS within the HR parameters for the first 5-6 weeks as per the template. After 5-6 weeks higher intensity/tempo comes back.
If you're doing Continuation, then you're encouraged to make a portion of your E sessions tempo or speed.

So that's my question. Right now I am doing BB, so they are all pretty slow (actually humbling how slow I have to run to stay within the HR guidelines). It at the end of this, I was going to run Black professional. So if I did a LSS run in line with my heavy week, would that be too often (or too little), being every 3rd Saturday or so?

My only running related goal is to be able to comfortably get under 20min in my 3 mile PFT. Maybe grind my teeth and get under 19min if I had too. But I have no aspirations of running a half or full marathon, so I figured LSS runs would be mostly a waste, since a 5k distance isn't really something I need to build tons of miles a week volume for (or so I've been told). But I never thought about what a LSS run would do for my heart before reading the Conditioning book.

Sorry man, still not sure what your question is. If I understand you correctly, then yes after you finish Base you can add speed/tempo to your E sessions. Start running longer distances for time within reason. There's no more HR restriction after Base, you get your adaptation and move on (until your next base block anyway).

Black Pro is 3 cardio sessions in total every week no? 2 HIC + 1 E? If your fitness is job related (PFT timings) then you might want to consider making 1 of your HICs Fast Five, and your E a longer run or Fun-Run with no speed/HR limit. 3 Mile is very much an aerobic event, (over 2-3 minute duration) so you keep on keeping on with the longer distances too. If I still had to worry about PFTs, I'd probably set my week up to include 1 x Fast 5, 1 x Hill Sprint and 1 long E run or Fun-Run.

Long slow runs and long faster runs both build the aerobic system. The slow LSS runs just give you different adaptations the faster ones don't and vice-versa.

[RugbyGuy]

Black Pro is 3 cardio sessions in total every week no? 2 HIC + 1 E? If your fitness is job related (PFT timings) then you might want to consider making 1 of your HICs Fast Five, and your E a longer run or Fun-Run with no speed/HR limit. 3 Mile is very much an aerobic event, (over 2-3 minute duration) so you keep on keeping on with the longer distances too. If I still had to worry about PFTs, I'd probably set my week up to include 1 x Fast 5, 1 x Hill Sprint and 1 long E run or Fun-Run.

Long slow runs and long faster runs both build the aerobic system. The slow LSS runs just give you different adaptations the faster ones don't and vice-versa.

That was it. If I'm worried about PFT timings, should I make an effort to include LSS at all, or just focus on fast long runs. But I was already leaning towards your HIC template with fun-runs as my E once I'm done BB. I'll save the LSS runs for when I feel beat up or worn down (once off BB and on Black).

[WallBilly]

OK, now I see your point. KB or other military folk can certainly weigh in, but I'll give you my $0.02 based on my running experience, and I'll try to tie it in to TB.

Like I said, 30 years ago, I wanted to run far and fast. I was never a great athlete, but I was tenacious. I set a goal to run a 40 minute 10k, 6:27 mile pace for 6.2 miles. That appears to be exactly the pace you are shooting for. After a couple of years of floundering, I started a program from Runners World Magazine that they called "the perfect 30 mile week." It worked.

It consisted of:

A 10 mile LSS at a pace 2 minutes per mile slower than race pace.

An interval session at the track with distances from 100m to 800m and everything in between.

3 sessions of 4-5 miles at intermediate pace.

2 days off.

I think the keys were the track day (HIC in TB) and the 10 miler at a very moderate pace (LSS in TB).

If you want to go fast for 5k, it helps to go both:

1. A lot faster for shorter distances.

2. Slower for a lot longer distances.

This can all be accomplished with Black, without doing 30 miles a week or becoming a professional runner.

$0.02

[K.B.]

If you want to go fast for 5k, it helps to go both:

1. A lot faster for shorter distances.

2. Slower for a lot longer distances.

This can all be accomplished with Black, without doing 30 miles a week or becoming a professional runner.

$0.02

Bang on WallBilly.

Because TB'ers do an annual Base-Building block, the 'slower' long runs during Continuation don't have to be as painfully slow as your 130-150bpm BB LSS runs. Depending on your goal, you do have to get used to moving faster at longer distances at some point. 'Faster' doesn't mean you need to kill yourself or run it at a 1.5 mile pace - just pick it up a little. Don't restrict yourself to 130-150.

You can throw in the occasional 130-150 run as a recovery tool during Continuation. You've gone hard all week, you're not feeling it - well go ahead and make your E an LSS 130-150 session. This might be a staple for some - it all depends on what you're training for at any given time. If you're training for an endurance event and Base is behind you, then you'll want to keep the bulk of your long runs/E faster. If you're focusing on strength for a few months, then go ahead and make most of your E sessions an easy 130-150. Everything falls under 'it depends'.

[Train_Hard_Live_Easy]

Because TB'ers do an annual Base-Building block, the 'slower' long runs during Continuation don't have to be as painfully slow as your 130-150bpm BB LSS runs. Depending on your goal, you do have to get used to moving faster at longer distances at some point. 'Faster' doesn't mean you need to kill yourself or run it at a 1.5 mile pace - just pick it up a little. Don't restrict yourself to 130-150.

You can throw in the occasional 130-150 run as a recovery tool during Continuation. You've gone hard all week, you're not feeling it - well go ahead and make your E an LSS 130-150 session. This might be a staple for some - it all depends on what you're training for at any given time. If you're training for an endurance event and Base is behind you, then you'll want to keep the bulk of your long runs/E faster. If you're focusing on strength for a few months, then go ahead and make most of your E sessions an easy 130-150. Everything falls under 'it depends'.

THIS!! Great, simple explanation

[WallBilly]

Because TB'ers do an annual Base-Building block, the 'slower' long runs during Continuation don't have to be as painfully slow as your 130-150bpm BB LSS runs. Depending on your goal, you do have to get used to moving faster at longer distances at some point. 'Faster' doesn't mean you need to kill yourself or run it at a 1.5 mile pace - just pick it up a little. Don't restrict yourself to 130-150.

You can throw in the occasional 130-150 run as a recovery tool during Continuation. You've gone hard all week, you're not feeling it - well go ahead and make your E an LSS 130-150 session. This might be a staple for some - it all depends on what you're training for at any given time. If you're training for an endurance event and Base is behind you, then you'll want to keep the bulk of your long runs/E faster. If you're focusing on strength for a few months, then go ahead and make most of your E sessions an easy 130-150. Everything falls under 'it depends'.

This morning I remembered another detail about that "perfect 30 mile week" that had slipped down the memory hole, which is again completely consistent with TB, and with what KB just said.

The 3 runs of 4-5 miles is not exactly accurate. 2 of those were called "recovery runs" and were supposed to be leisurely jaunts of 3-4 miles just to keep the juices flowing. The 3rd one was a 5-6 miler that was supposed to be just a bit slower than race pace. This was meant to simulate the 10k race that was the training goal, and like KB said, you do eventually have to get used to running the target distance at a pace much faster than LSS.

I gotta' say, this Board has been extremely informative for me.

[RugbyGuy]

Thank you very much for all the input from everyone. Great things to throw in the tool box for when I get done BB and move onto continuation.

[MuftiMike]

Great thread. I know it got totally derailed (sorry Goran) but this is gold Jerry.

One thing that's extremely satisfying about using a monitor is that you might notice that the distance your running keeps increasing within the same time frame if you use the same route. It's like you're going farther but working less and less to do it.

[RugbyGuy]

Another question for the brain trust regarding HR monitor running. I live in South Texas, so it's hot all the time. Like, still 88 degrees at 10:00PM hot. Sometimes when I do my runs my HR will get up to around 160 and the only thing I can do to bring it down is walk. I can trot along as slow as possible (sometimes even slower than if I was just walking anyway) but unless I actually walk, I can't get my HR down below the 150 threshold. Usually it happens after about 20-25 mins of continuous running. Is this because of my fitness (and will get better as I progress through BB) or is it because of the heat? If it's because of the heat, should I allow my HR to creep up to 160 or so, or still treat 150 as a hard ceiling?

Edit: I just completed my first week of BB, so this HR question is in regards to the LSS BB runs.