Advice please: running heart rates on keto/carnivore

hr
(Marco ) #21

Followup - Heart rate took a while but normalized around 4-5 months keto when running. While I tried many things like tweak minerals and hydration, just needed time in retrospect.

(Alec) #22

Marco
Very similar experience… I just needed time. Over the 10 months I have been doing carnivore, my average easy pace has dropped from 10mins/k to 7.45/k, and I think this will continue… for how long will that improvement continue is an interesting question.

As a result, my 5k race time has dropped from 45mins to 27.40 (yesterday), and I have a goal of going sub 26mins by end of December. Could be tough to do that, but I am confident that I can get there reasonably soon if December proves too hard.

One thing I did that I think made a difference… I stopped trusting the HR from my watch, and I invested in a Polar Verity Sense. This has made my HR readings much more stable and I think more accurate.

Run well!
Cheers
Alec

(Marco ) #23

Nice, put the mileage in steadily and that shouldn’t long before your sub 25. Was that a race or just a workout? Redline effort takes some extra motivation :slight_smile:

My last time trial was around 22min 5k, but weekly mileage is just easy base building, once ready I’ll do more appropriate 5k mileage and workouts - goal is to crack 20 minute in ‘23 (I’ll be 56/57 in 2023).

I have very accurate 24/7 monitoring of hr, that wasn’t an issue. Just took the 4 or so months keto before it normalized… I haven’t been doing any max vo2 stuff, but maybe those will take a hit zero carb… not worried about that - not necessary to crack 20.

Godspeed.

(Alec) #24

Marco
Sounds like you are already a very good runner… I was reading your post and thinking sub22… must be young… bugger he’s 56!! 22mins at 56 is already very very good. All power to you to be targetting sub 20. I would LOVE to get there, but that may take me quite a bit of time and training!

I agree that at “our” level hard hard sessions are not really necessary, base aerobic work can get you most of the way. However, I am going into a speed training block now to see if I can sharpen up my speed just a little to get to sub26 by end Dec. I am doing this partially to try to achieve my goal, but also for some variety and seasonality to maintain some freshness. I am lowering the mileage just a bit, and doing some speed work which I haven’t done in a long long time.

My 27.40 was in a “race” (being parkrun) with a lot of other runners, so the motivation and adrenaline was there…. Agree that doing these things as a lone time trial is really hard (and in my view not recommended!).

Take care. Good luck with your sub-20 chasing.
Cheers
Alec