Two Key Indicators of Recovery and Restoration: Your Heart Rate and Your Blood Pressure
Answer: When you wake up in the morning, take your resting pulse rate. Do this every day. People who train every day usually have a basal pulse rate of 38 to 60 beats per minute. If your morning heart rate rises by 10 beats or 10% over basal pulse rates it means that you have overtrained and should not go out to run that day, but rest. By all means do some stretching, but don't strain your body. Rest up.
N. B. Post Questions: How many extra beats per minute is a rise of 10% for a person with a normal basal rate of (i) 38 beats per minute, and (ii) 60 beats per minute?
What does this mean for 10 beats more than normal basal pulse?
Author's Experience: When I was younger and fully fit I had a morining pulse rate of 50 beats per minute, so I did not go out running if my pulse was 55 beats or more. Why was 5 beats more than my normal resting pulse my critical indicator instead of 10?
5 minutes after a medium tempo run and after a long run
Focus Question: Above what pulse rate indicates that you have not recovered sufficiently from previous exertions in training?
When you finish a long continuous run in the aerobic zone of 140 to 160 beats per minute (Long Slow Distance, Medium), your pulse should recover to 100 - 120 beats per minute within five minutes.
Exercise: On the training schedule below mark the training sessions when you would or will take your pulse 5 minutes after finishing the run
1 minutes after a cross country run and after a speed training run
Focus Question: Above what respective pulse rates indicates that you have not recovered sufficiently from previous exertions in training?
Following cross country running the pulse should not be over 100 beats per minute, and after speed training should not be over 120 beats per minute. In the author's opinion the latter figure is particularly important.
Another article in the future will look at all aspects of restoration and monitoring recovery in long distance runners - so tune in at the end of every month and keep learning!
The other good reason to take your heart rate
Here are some exerts from recent articles to which links are provided if you wish to read the whole article for revision. If you look back at the article published on concerning maximum
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