I am in week 3 of C25K and today increased the jog to 3 minutes. During the last 30 seconds or so my heart rate (using a monitor) shot up to 185 bpm and I was gasping for air. I realize that my body was being pushed and that the only way to improve it to stress your system, but is this normal? Will I feel like this for each time increase? When does it settle down and feel normal instead of "stressed"? I want to enjoy running and get into a groove!
How old are you? HR is often relative to age. I haven't done C25K but whenever I did plyometrics/sprints, getting up to 190bpm + gasping was pretty much the goal :P Whenever I'm in the gym or outside doing cardio, that's the level I choose to go to. Some people like to keep it within the "can still talk" range, but it depends on the person,
Just a couple of questiions: Are you startting out too fast? Running too fast? I know when I started I was going too fast, once I slowed down to a jog I felt better then later on I increased my speed...
Mine does that too, and I'm unsure of whether to slow down or not. I've been going by how I feel. If I feel like i"m gonna faint, I obviously slow down. I try not to keep up that intensity for too long, and certainly not every day. I guess I like that type of intensity once a week or less, but for the most part, I try to max out my HR around 135- max153-160 ish
However, I'll be watching this, because I have the same question. I'm confused how to make it better because I have been working out a few months, and even with jogging a couple minutes, my HR goes up to 170. How do we get it to go down even when we're exercising regularly?
With all cardio activities my HR does that at first. I tend to push myself to that limit and then increase the time just a little bit the next time. C25K may go too fast for you, but it's fine to repeat weeks. The body adapts quicker than you might imagine! My resting HR went from 85 down to 46 within about three months! Where my HR used to shoot up to 185, now it "shoots up" to 130 and I'm working pretty hard at a mere 100.
This has been my favorite thing to watch about my weight loss efforts. I love to chart my HR and watch it come down over time. I get a bigger kick out of that than I do the scale.
With all cardio activities my HR does that at first. I tend to push myself to that limit and then increase the time just a little bit the next time. C25K may go too fast for you, but it's fine to repeat weeks. The body adapts quicker than you might imagine! My resting HR went from 85 down to 46 within about three months! Where my HR used to shoot up to 185, now it "shoots up" to 130 and I'm working pretty hard at a mere 100.
This has been my favorite thing to watch about my weight loss efforts. I love to chart my HR and watch it come down over time. I get a bigger kick out of that than I do the scale.
That HR improvement is quite amazing! I am in no rush with the C25K and will add additional days if needed. My goal is to build stamina and improve my overall fitness. The scale increased about 3 lbs and held for the first 2 weeks, then just recently it went back to my original weight. My muscles were sore during that time so I figure it was water. No weight loss for some time now but my Tanita scale shows a reduction in my body fat percentage.
Kristi, a really excellent, well-educated trainer at my gym has been guiding me on this exact same thing. I did an assessment on the treadmill, running with a HRM and a mask that measured my oxygen uptake and co2 excretion, This helped pinpoint my zones. It has been frustrating to slow down but I am trying to trust the process.
Wow - fascinating article. I guess I have to get a heart rate monitor to be able to tell if I'm anaerobic or not...I suspect I am for most of my run. It will be difficult to slow down, though, and still feel like I'm getting the cardio workout I've now become accustomed to!!
Cheryl, you can always take your heart rate the old-fashioned way at a couple points during your run to get an idea. It's hard to do when you're running, but if you start taking it as soon as you shift to a brisk walk, you can get a pretty good idea.
Also, google "perceived exertion" or maybe someone here can chime in with some info. Basically, unless you are running hard for a particular type of training, you should be able to carry on a conversation while you run. I know some people prefer this to monitoring heart rate.
C25K, heart rate, gasping for air
Where my HR used to shoot up to 185, now it "shoots up" to 130 and I'm working pretty hard at a mere 100. 
