Heartrate Hotel

I have always been aware that I probably have quite an unhealthy heart, my resting heart rate for about as long as I can remember has been around 74bpm. For reference (from here):

What most consider healthy for a man is between 60 and 75 beats per minute and for women it should be between 60 and 80 beats per minute.

Although I was just inside the healthy zone, other studies have suggested that heart rates above 70bpm in men lead to increased risks for various diseases. Just out of interest I have measured my heart rate a few times over the past couple of days, and…

57

Turns out I’ve become healthy and dropped all the way to below average! I remember seeing a documentary a while ago about a bunch of sedentary people who all trained together for the Boston marathon. The documentary is available legally and for free online here and actually makes for an enjoyable watch in a ‘tearjerky inspiring sort of way’, and also shows a bit about the science of what is happening to our bodies as we become more fit. The one thing that really struck me at the time was that all of the participants started out extremely, extremely out of shape, but after just two months of running a few times a week they all began to register as ‘above average’ to ’superior’ in tests of endurance and cardiovascular function, even if they were still significantly overweight.

They never mention exactly what training the participants in the program did, but I’d wager quite a lot of money that it wasn’t very different at all from the c25k program in the initial weeks. All of the marathon training programs I’ve found online, as well as all of the research I’ve read suggest that running 3-4 times a week and gradually building endurance is the best way to train, and this is precisely what c25k does for us.

So, this means that… Those of us in the process of finishing c25k should have undergone huge gains in fitness, which is a nice feeling. In all truth I don’t really feel too much different throughout the day unless I’m actually in the process of running. I guess I just don’t push myself very hard in front of the computer! but it’s still nice to have my heart rate there to remind me that there have actually been large, significant changes occur inside of my body!!

Just to put this into perspective: In just one hour in front of the computer my heart now needs 900 less beats than it did just eight weeks ago to keep me alive.