Coach Atul Godbole answers your training related questions…

Q. Prabha asks “My HR always rises during the workout even if effort feels the same. Is this OK?”

A. Yes, HR does rise as you progress into your workout. This phenomenon is known as HR creep and is normal. As long as you adhere to the purpose of your workout – for example, keeping effort easy for easy runs, and hard for hard runs (this is simplifying things!) – it is fine.

You should also allow for this HR creep when doing workouts. For example, if the workout calls for keeping HR below 150, then it would be advisable to start your workout so that the HR during the initial part of the workout is below 150 (say, around 140), because you know that HR will creep up to 150 as the workout progresses.

Q. Sonali asks “If I miss a workout, should I make it up later”

A.  I am not a big fan of making up missed workouts. If you make up a missed workout, what happens to the workout you are supposed to do on the days that you are doing the missed workout? If you miss that workout too, then you are constantly playing catchup. If you do both the workouts, then you could get fatigued or injured. In general, I am an advocate of just letting missed workouts go and continue with the subsequent training plan.

A possible exception to this is if you miss a key workout like a “last long run” or something similar. In this case, make sure you do the missed workout either immediately within 1-2 days or do it in place of a similar workout next week. For example, do the “last long run” the next weekend. It depends on how much time you have till race day, as well as other workouts coming after the missed workouts. Consult your coach if in doubt.

Runners and triathletes, have training, diet, nutrition related queries? Send email to askthecoach@motiv8coaching.com