Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Hill Run Report

Done! Distance: 6 miles. Time: 1:13:23. Average HR: 148. Max HR: around 161 to 164. I only walked on my regularly scheduled walks, no extras. That comes out to a 12:14 pace - I walk a minute every nine minutes, so the total time includes seven minutes of walking. And I felt fine, no struggles. This is unbelievable! Surgery was so worth it.

I have a pretty plain-jane HR monitor. It's a Polar RS-100. It is my second Polar - I got this new one for my birthday in January. With both my old one and this one, if it is cold when I start out, it whacks out for the first 10 minutes, then settles down after my first walk. It records heart rates of 170 to 220 during this time. Yes, I have wet it down. I'm sure it's the monitor and not my heart, because if the temp is about 45 or up, it's fine. Also, if I press it to my chest for about 30 seconds when it is acting up, my HR will settle to normal, but when I let go it starts up again. Two years ago, at the Boston Expo I asked the Polar guys about it and they thought my strap was too big and gave me a small. But it still happens. The ten minutes of beeping can be annoying, but I don't want to turn the beeper off, because it signals me at other times. And, I would probably mess it up if I tried to turn it back on during a run. Does this happen to anyone else? Suggestions?

7 comments:

Donald said...

Yeah, that happens. I think it just takes some time to lock into a strong signal. I've found that starting with it wet seems to help, beyond that I just fidget with it a bit during the first few minutes until it settles down.

Nice job on the hill.

Unknown said...

Is Crystal Ridge next? I think you're ready for it. I am just surprised you're not going the whole loop at Lake Youngs on Sunday.

onepinkfuzzy said...

no suggestions on the hr monitor, but way to go on your runs! man, you are tempting me to get my gallbladder removed......

Anonymous said...

I don't have a heart monitor yet. Probably something I should look into. I kind of like the low tech approach to running.

You are really doing great in your training. I'm so happy for you. Amazing what a little surgery will do for you.

D said...

Your HR is great!

I think all of our nifty little gadgets act up due to interference. MY brand new Garmin 305 even acts up and it is supposed to be the most accurate of the bunch. I have all those alarms turned on and during my last 1/2 marathon I know I was annoying people because I was making all kinds of noise. They're handy though, so don't turn your alarms off. No suggestions on how to remedy this - I think it is just the price we pay.

On your comment, there was also a lady walking her German shep on one of those leashes (retractables) and she kept letting that dog get real close to me. That is annoying. I love dogs -but you never know how they are going to act. On that weird guy - I always carry a cell phone -so I called one of my family members to come get me when I was finished w/my run instead of running home - just to be safe.

Legs and Wings said...

I can't offer much help with your Polar. I don't have a HR monitor...yet. I'm eye-balling them. I like gadgets and all but I'm not quite ready to commit.

Am I off base in suggesting that some people are a bit over the top with tech stuff? You know what I mean? I recently watched a 5 K race - a teeny tiny 5 K...and thought it sort of odd to see so many runners wired with MP3 players, HR monitors, fuel belts...fancy sun glasses and the like. Call me crazy but I thought it odd. Not that I'm passing judgement here...but just making an observation. After all, they were participating - that's the important part. Blah, blah, blah...sorry for the long comment.

Hey, great work on the hill. Keep it up!

Afternoon Tea With Oranges said...

Nice blog!!

I have a Garmin 301 with the heart rate monitor, and it drives me crazy with those whacky heart rates. Most everytime I use it, it will report a max heart rate of like 230, and it's usually during the first 1.5 miles of my run. It's really annoying to me, because I never really know what my max heart rate really was. I was hoping that the Garmin 305 would be better about that.