heart concerns

Question
I'm 45yrs young, 6'tall and 200lbs. I've recently lost about 20lbs with a cleansing fast. Over the years I've stayed very active, rollerblading apprx.10-14 miles 2-4 times a week. Recently I started training for my first half marathon raising $ for leukemia patients. After running 3-4 days a week for the past 7 weeks I don't seem to be progressing very well. I usually have to stop once or twice during our 40-45min. run and walk abit. The tightness in my legs does'nt seem to be getting better even with constant stretching, lots of water and electrolytes,etc. My dads family has longevity health history, but my moms family has some heart disease history which I pawned off on their being no exercising and pasta every meal typical Italians. Could it be my heart causing my muscles these constant aches. I do tend to over-heat more than others it seems. I'm considering full stress test, heart check-up kind of physical, as well as monitoring HR during running. How do I know when I'm pushing too hard or what is a save level of exercise? What is the best way to moniter HR.?

Answer
Hi Bill,

Alot of questions here.  I'll do my best to answer each one.

First, the fact that you need to walk once or twice during your runs suggests that you may be running a little too hard.  If you slowed these runs down just a hair, would you still need to walk?  The most accurate way to determine the correct intensity for exercise would be to measure your max heart rate for starters.  Since you're considering the treadmill stress test anyway to look for ECG signs of heart disease (which probably isn't necessary, but can't hurt....usually costs $100-200).  This test will determine if their our indications of early heart disease AND will find your true max heart rate.  Then, you will base your training intensity on a fraction of your max HR.

For example, recommended intensities are:

Easy / long runs = 70-75% of max HR
Tempo runs = 85-90% of max HR
Intervals / repeats = 95-100% of max HR

Obviously, to correctly guage this, you will need to train with a HR monitor.  I would recommend Polar monitors, although there are many on the market.  I'm guessing their entry level model goes for $50-60, although they have some for $100's with plenty of bells of whistles.

Lastly, don't worry about "overheating".  That's just your natural response to exercise and not indicative of any underlying problems.  Finally, for the tightness in your legs.  It's hard to say what the problem is if you're stretching and not overtraining.  I will recommend one thing here...you can buy a foam roller for about 20-25$ on the internet.  The roller has the same effect of a deep tissue massage (breaking up adhesions and scar tissue).  Insead of a $60 massage each time, you can use the foam roller for a year or 2 before you need another.  This combined with stretching with likely help with any muscle tightness.  Note, it hurts like hell the first few weeks, then gets better over time.....similar to massage.

Hope I answered everything, good luck.

Larry