Can't get it up in the morning (heart rate)

craker

I ran 8 miles this morning and barely got out of zones 3 (70-80% mhr) and peaked at 4.5. It slumped to zone 2 at times on descents. By my standards the run felt hard enough and was as fast as I would expect.

I suspect I get similar results on my morning commute when I feel like I'm trying fairly hard yet fail to raise my heart rate. I would expect to be in lower zone 4 when training perhaps 4.9 to 5.1 during a race or when pushing hard. I've no idea what my FTP heart rate is, probably around 5.2 according to these figures.

Does this confirm that heart zone training is a bit pointless? Ambient temperature related? (a fairly fresh 7 degrees or so this morning). I started my run without having had breakfast but having had a cup of tea, about 40 minutes after getting up.

jgsi

craker wrote:

I ran 8 miles this morning and barely got out of zones 3 (70-80% mhr) and peaked at 4.5. It slumped to zone 2 at times on descents. By my standards the run felt hard enough and was as fast as I would expect.

I suspect I get similar results on my morning commute when I feel like I'm trying fairly hard yet fail to raise my heart rate. I would expect to be in lower zone 4 when training perhaps 4.9 to 5.1 during a race or when pushing hard. I've no idea what my FTP heart rate is, probably around 5.2 according to these figures.

Does this confirm that heart zone training is a bit pointless? Ambient temperature related? (a fairly fresh 7 degrees or so this morning). I started my run without having had breakfast but having had a cup of tea, about 40 minutes after getting up.

HR is so variable basically.
You have time to look at hr in a race?

SportiveScene

I noticed something similar a few weeks ago after starting to exercise more in the morning rather than evening. I did a bit of research on the web and it seems like it's pretty common.

There's some research from John Moores University referenced in an NY times article that found that people’s maximum heart rates and sub-maximal heart rates were lower in the morning. Doesn't seem to be a definite explanation as to why it's that way but it did say most world records tend to be broken late afternoon or early evening so there must be something behind it.

shockedsoshocked

Blood sugar/available glycogen levels can affect HR (if you've ever bonked with a HR monitor on you'll notice it's difficult to raise it, or tried to train hard the day after a really fatiguing session like a race), so if you've had no breakie that's probably the main reason.

There's a few training plans out there that advocate training on an empty stomach because it trains the body to burn fat, however this is at a pretty low HR/Pace as you'd be unable to do anything particularly hard.

Herbsman

lower levels of stress hormones in the body in the evening apparently.