Episode 13 - Heart Rate Zone Calculations

The most effective method I have found is the Karvonen Formula. Before you can begin to calculate your zones you need 2 other basic pieces of information, your Resting Heart Rate (RHR) and your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR). All zone calculations use these as a baseline.

To calculate your RHR, use your trusty heart rate monitor and take a nap. You may want to be on the safe side and take several naps just to be sure... When your wife comes down on you for napping, you can tell her you have to in order to be in better shape. Once you sort out your personal life and get the lowest Beats Per Minute (BPM), you have your RHR.

Now the hard part, sorting out your MHR. Before you do this make sure you have permission from your doctor. The standard disclaimer here: I did this but I am not a pro or a medical professional so if you get hurt or die, don't yell at me.

The most effective for me was doing a regular run workout and at the end I did a 1 mile all out to the point that when I finished, I could not go any further. Of course, I was wearing my HR monitor so I used the highest recorded BPM as my MHR.

This site has a pretty neat calculator you can use that will show you the 'old' method of calculating heart rate zones along side the Karvonen Formula calculations. All you need to know is your age, RHR and MHR.

There are 5 sones to calculate that I think are the most generally accepted. the lower the number of the zone (i.e Zone 1) has the lowest intensity. You guessed it, the higher the number the higher the intensity up to and including your MHR in the upper reaches of Zone 5.

Zone 1 - The Energy Efficient Zone 50-60% of MHR

Zone 2 - The Recovery Zone 60-70% of MHR

Zone 3 - The Aerobic Zone 70-80% of MHR

Zone 4 - The Anaerobic Zone 80-90% of MHR

Zone 5 - The Red Line Zone 90-100% of MHR

In future episodes I am going to see what I can learn about each zone specifically and share.

Episode 13

Episode 12 - The Marine Corps Marathon...Sort of.

I ran the last 4.5 miles of the MCM with 2 of my sisters and had an absolute blast. I had to wait at the bridge crossing just prior to the mile 22 water stop.

One thing I couldn't bring myself to do was cross the finish line. It just didn't seem right after not actually running the whole thing.

Episode 12

Episode 11 - It's been a long time!

Well, after nearly a month of nothing, I finally put together all of the snippits that I thought had some value into a hodgepodge episode. It is less than a week from the Marine Corps Marathon and my plan is to run the last 3-6 miles with 2 of my sisters.

Given the race course and where I am staying in Arlington, I hope to meet up with them before they cross the bridge back into VA from DC. I think mile 20 is actually still near the Mall and that seems to be the best place to catch up to them. One of my sisters is having some ITB issues and I am praying that she is able to complete the Marathon, she has worked really hard!

Episode 11

Episode 10 - Goodbye MCM

It looks like the ITBS has won this round. My plan (even though I am still not running) is to do the stretches and back off my miles until I can run for a month or two without pain. Once I can do that I am going to increase by about 5% per week and hopefully build to long runs in excess of 20 miles.

My apologies to Pete (www.runblogger.com) for again forgetting your website address, I seem to do that a lot.

Episode 10

Episode 9 - Running, running, running

Two runs where I had some pain and the frustration. A big thanks to JKehl and roadrunn3r for very nice reviews on iTunes.

Great news on my Newtons and a big thanks to Tory from Newton Running who has been in contact with me and made it possible for me to get my shoes replaced. The store where I purchased them orignally doesn't carry them any more.

Episode 9

Episode 8 - A Short Lived Recovery

Well, again I pushed the envelope and have re-irritated my ITB. I ran 10 miles this week and it was too much for my knee. I don't dwell on it in the episode, but near the end of the run cast you do hear me a complain a little about it. It wasn't until after I got home for what I thought was going to be a mid-run break that I realized I had a problem.

I also spent some time talking about some additional gear I have been trying out with some success.

Now the show appears to be retransitioning (is that even a word?) to a recovery podcast. I will go ahead and apologize in advance for the complaining. :)

Have a great week!

Episode 8

Episode 7 - Finally a run!

Went out for my first run to test out the IT Band. A little more detail on what the actual case of my pain and discomfort is. I also got a real email!

My ITBS is also upsetting the Plica in my knee. Not fun at all. I was wondering why all the symptoms were the same for my pain and the ITBS that other people have talked about, the difference for me was the location of the pain. My pain was a little lower and closer to the knee cap itself.

Mentioned in the show:
http://runningthegoldenyears.blogspot.com/ - Dan's podcast
http://www.rundiggerrun.com/ - Matt's podcast, I couldn't find the exact episode on cold weather gear yet, I'll keep looking

Episode 6 - ITBS, Oh no!

Had an awesome time down in Florida staying at Give Kids the World (www.gktw.org). They went to great lengths to make sure we had anything we could need or want. I can honestly say that we were treated like royalty.

I think the kids favorite part was the ice cream shop. It was open from 7:30am to 10pm and you could get all the ice cream you wanted for free. Friendly's donates all of the ice cream and toppings.

I wanted to thank and offer the correct spellings of the people I mentioned in the podcast, @Oblinkin on twitter is Pete who runs the runblogger.com website and the runblogger podcast on iTunes helped me quite a bit sorting out what could potentially be the issue with my knee. Also, Gordon or @DisneyRunner on twitter and host of the Running to Disney podcast was involved in those discussions. I can't thank them enough for the motivation they gave me and the advice. This community is amazing.

To the folks that have provided feedback, thank you! I truly appreciate the kind words. Dan (@PassingThrough) who hosts the Running Through the Golden Years podcast and Matthew who was kind enough to let me know that the background noise wasn't as bad as I thought, I thank you for the feedback. Adam (ZenRunner) and Ted (AirForceTed) are both incredibly supportive and I owe a big "I'm Sorry" to Adam for bailing on our meet up while I was down in FL, I know he won't hold it against me but I still felt bad.

I have an appt with the physical therapist next Tuesday. I hope that I get good news from him.

Episode 6: ITBS, Oh no!

Episode 5 - Working on Quality

First off let me say thanks to Ted from the "You don't have to run alone" podcast for going that extra mile (boo, cheap pun use there) to help me out with the recording quality. Being a rookie runner as well as podcaster, I am realizing more and more how little I know about both.

I am going to be recording some details on the running program I use over the next few days/weeks. I want to put together a comprehensive episode on the program because I am really impressed with all aspects of it so far.

Episode 5 - Working on Quality

Episode 4 - Running around the 'hood

I went for a midweek run around where I live and took along the recording equipment mostly to compare the noise levels with how loud it was along the highway.

Enjoy!
chuckEpisode 4

Episode 3 - My how the mind wanders on the road

Isn't it amazing how your mind wanders when you are out on the road?

I think I have found what I want to be a halmark of my show. Each episode I am going to pick a person for whom I have much respect. Some will be people I know, others may be historical. I discussed my nephew this week, Stuart, who passed away at the age of 20 after a lifelong battle with MD (Muscular Distrophy).

I spent the majority of my run on a main road that meant I had to do a whole lot of editing afterwards. That might stop as well, I will just use my long runs as 'me' time and record on shorter weekly runs.

I hope you enjoy the show!

Episode 3

Episode 2 - A little trip South

What an awesome family I have. I took a couple of days off and my wife and I drove down ot stay a long weekend with one of my sisters. We also had 4 kids in tow, well, we weren't towning them, they were in the old minivan with us. As an aside, this van used to be my Harley, when we found out we were having our 3rd child, I had a brief fit of sanity and sold the hog for the minivan. I actually considered personalized plates with something like WZMYHAWG or MISSDHOG but the boss overrulled me.

First day of the trip was awesome, we made great time getting here even with the GPS not knowing that one of the highways we were on existed. We had great fun making up words that the GPS might be using to try and figure out where we were. As we would go under a bridge, it would have a brief flash of a route and then freeze up while it tried to figure out how to get to where we wanted to go from this new 'known' spot.

Last night was a huge thunderstorm. The kind that just sort of sits over you and flashes lightning all around and the thunder sounds like bowling balls are being rolled down hardwood steps for an hour or more. As much as I love storms this was a little over the top, even for me.

We went to my brother in law's parents house since they have a pool. We hoped that the day outside swimming will wear them out sufficiently enough to get them to sleep.

I ran a 10 mile run with my sister, I was able to keep up with her. She is the one who has actually run a marathon.

Audio quality is a touch better in this episode. I did break my promise about not recording anything in the car, that just seems to be the only place outside of running where I have the time. I have a mic on order and it should be here in 3-5 days. I hope that it will make a difference, at the very least it will give me some freedom in where I record.

Episode 2

Episode 1 - Just starting out.

Ok Ted, JayDub, Gordon and everyone else who encouraged me to start out, here I am.

I started a podcast today to chronicle my training for the Marine Corps Marathon on October 31st. I have a strong desire to give back in some small way to the running community that has done so much for me.

Essentially I am going to use this blog for show notes. Although, if I get into the mood, I am going to be using it as a really small soapbox from which to spew whatever happens to be on my mind. Relax, there typically isn't much going on up there so these will tend to be short lived.

A litte about me, I try to put God first, family second and then everything else. I am rabidly protective of my family and friends, eternally greatful for the gift of my wife and more proud of my kids than I can possibly express.

The audio is done for the podcast, I am working on getting it up to iTunes, I just listened to it and decided that I will not record in the car any more. The background noise is pretty bad; my apologies for that.

Episode 1