Personal Best

Today I ran 5.2 miles in 50 min­utes. Felt a lit­tle guilty hog­ging the tread­mill next to the sign that reads, “max 30 min­utes on all car­dio equip­ment” but I pushed through any­way: 45 min­utes at 6.5mph plus a five minute cooldown.

I think I need a heart mon­i­tor. I don’t trust the grips on the tread­mill. I was run­ning at what I think is a rea­son­able pace and as I entered the cooldown peri­od I checked the mon­i­tor and it read me out at 187 bpm. How could I be going easy and feel­ing like I could keep going anoth­er 10 min­utes or more if I were run­ning my heart at 90% of my max? If that’s accu­rate I think it’s dan­ger­ous and I need to keep bet­ter track. If it’s inac­cu­rate I need to get an accu­rate reading.

OK, enough rest. Time to put my gog­gles on and try a swim. No weights today.

3 Replies to “Personal Best”

  1. Big 5 sport­ing goods had a
    Big 5 sport­ing goods had a Polar mon­i­tor on sale for $29.99. The clos­est one is in the Ser­ra­monte area, though — one bum­mer about Big 5.

    I bought a Timex one, but it’s a bit more pricey — it’s got a lap timer, but my $20 Wal-Mart iron­man watch beats it. There’s no lap recall on my HRM watch! You have to pay atten­tion to the time when you hit the lap but­ton, because that’s the only time you can see the split time.

  2. Does the Timex use the Polar
    Does the Timex use the Polar strap? I ask because all the equip­ment at the gym talks to the Polar straps, so I’ve got some rea­son to stick with the Polar HRMs.

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