[ferrarock]

Hi all, yesterday I went out for a short run and that was the first time in months.
As expected, my legs were slow and got tired quite quickly, my heart rate were high (my HR chest strap gave an average of 174 bpm, with a max of 187 uphill) but I breathed with the nose only all the time, and even not so forced. I didn’t felt mental fatigue either, I was well relaxed during the run and after it.
This is my return in regular training, but I’m not sure how to approach it: it’s better to base my zones following the heart and legs or the lungs and perceived fatigue?
For context, I’m 29 and when I trained regularly I alternated 3 sessions rock climbing, 2 or 3 runs (easy and hard ones) and hiking in the mountain every week. My running performances were not so great, but I run to keep my aerobic system trained for mountaineering rather than for good times in marathons (in the future who knows)!
Thanks!

Topic

[Cory from Wisconsin]

Cory from Wisconsin on November 22, 2022 at 4:50 pm #72808

Others on the forum have explained that some athletes with severe ADS will be able to maintain nose breathing at very high heart rates. For this reason you cannot rely on nose breathing tests as the sole indicator of effort. If you try and train at the max you can nose breathe your HR will be too high and you will not actually improve your aerobic system and will beat yourself into the ground.

Use HR as the threshold indicator (but know it does change day to day and can improve over time). I would suggest doing a HR drift test to determine your AeT and then spending ~90% of your training in Z2 or Z1.