heart rates

I know theres been a lot in the forums about WHR , RHR and percentages but I am having a bit of a problem with mine.I wonder if anybody could help? I'm 42 and have been running for four months, 5 days a week average 7 miles per run. My range is generally agreed to be around 116 and 145 for 60 - 80 % of MHR. However whenever I run, however slow, my actual range is 150-160 at around 10 min miles. This seems odd coz i'm quite fit , a bit overweight but without any health problems. Do I continue at this pace till my heart rate reduces or do I run faster (which I can) and see if the higher rate drops?
Hope somebody can point me in the right direction. Thnx Marvin

Marvin,
I raised a similar question a while back, though with different HRs to yours.
The advice I was given was ...

If you always run at the same speed, then your HR will stay quite high. Only by varying the effort, ie. alternating fast and slow, will your HR fall. I was advised to do intervals just above and just below my aerobic (70-80%)/anaerobic (80-90%) level (both based on a straight %age of max HR with no allowance for RHR).

To be honest, I haven't tried this out on may sessions yet due to other factors.

Hope this info is helpful,
Cheers,
Jo.

Thanx for the advice Jo, i'll give it a go this week. I have been doing most of my running at the same pace and mostly on hilly routes so that makes sense.

cheers
Marvin

Marvin,

You don't say how you arrived at your max heart rate. If you used one of the formulas like age less so many then it is most unlikely to be right, and hence your zone won't be right either.

It could be that your heart beats faster than the average bloke, whoever he is. Its not a case of fitting your heart rate to some theoretical heart rate.

There have been other threads on this subject and I suggest that you try to find them. There's good advice and references in them.

Marvin,

You may be running too fast. I'm 42 too. I did a fast run last Tuesday where my heart rate was consistently in the 160s (bpm)on my Polar HRM during the run - just because I felt like it. But usually I keep it mostly somewhere in the 130's (bpm)when I'm out running.

I suggest you go a fair bit slower and check that it does drop to within the parameters referred to in your message.