lower HR w/o slowing down?

I think that's the key right there is just relaxing. In addition to relaxing the shoulders, relax the facial muscles and the arms / hands. I guess another way is to just keep all around good form.

<>Can I piggy back onto this my high heart rate question?  Does caffeine help or hurt?   Let's say I can run forever at 165 beats per minute.  If I take caffeine does it speed up my heart rate?  (I think it does.)  But can I run just as well at 170 bpm on caffeine as I can at 165?  In other words, does caffeine help?

This isn't really supposed to be a thread hijack, because the reason I'm asking is I'd love to lower my heart rate as well and was wondering if - gasp - giving up coffee was a good idea.

Gwendal

No, caffeine does not help. Caffeine is a stimulant that increases your hear rate. I know some people that do take caffeine pills before a short run because one of the side effects of caffeine is that it relaxes your bronchial muscle enabling easier breathing, or the effect of being able to breathe easier. I do not condone nor reccommend doing this though. As far as the question can you run just as well at 165 bpm as 170 bpm; no. Simply put, you will burn out faster.

I'm not a doctor or a coach but I stayed at a Holiday Inn a few times and how I've lowered my heart rate during working out is by slowing down. When I'm in my base phase of training I do 3-4 long runs a week at 70% of my MHR. Now this sloooooowwww. As in 10-11 m/m slow. Usually within a month of doing this though, my heart starts to work more efficent and I'm able to do the same run staying within 70% of my MHR, at an 8-9 m/m pace. Granted, I'm usually also doing 2 short tempo runs a week at 85% of my MHR.

I know we are in the middle of the season so it's not a good time to start a new program but it may be something to think about next season. Also there are a couple good books out there, one of them is the "Idiots Guide to Heart Rate Training" (even though I hate paying someone who calls me an idiot, I do reccommend the book) and "Training for Endurance" which you can order on the pccoach.com website and they also have some excellent information on it as well.

Posture helps too.  Concentrate on your form.  The farther I go, the more likely I am to slouch, look at the ground, and pull my hands up toward my chest instead of keeping my arms loosely swinging and bent  about 90 degrees.  Every so often, I refocus on my form during a run, and being more efficient will knock a few beats off my HR.