So today is a scheduled off day. My legs are feeling okay but the lowest of my abdominals have felt extremely weak and a little sore over the past few days. I am hopeful this will abate with time as my body re-acclimates to a running life style. I've been thinking about comments I made on a beginning runner's dailymile page a few years ago. I went back to dailymile.com to try to find my comments but, as far as I can tell, dailymile doesn't have a viable "search old posts and comments feature". At times like this I wish that I was a clever enough to write a script to scrape the site for what I was looking for. Alas, I'm not that clever so I had to find it the old-fashioned way. So after over 300 mouse clicks, I found it. I'm pasting into this blog entry so I can find it myself later and refer to it now. I suppose I can think of it as advice from my past avid-runner-self to my current novice-runner-self. ... yes, that's weird .... Cory B. Two thoughts: First, if you're both running, you each need a Garmin. Sharing is nice but for reasons already mentioned not a great idea. Second, the heart rate monitor is over-rated. What are you going to use it for ... data curiosity ...? Yes, my heart was beating while running .... Get 2 Garmin 205's - everything you need w/o the heart rate monitor. 2 years ago edit Ange Cory... so you don't hold to the 'exercise in the optimum HR zone' theory? Pretty much you should just run how it feels good and push yourself if you can, you'll know if your heart is beating too fast? 2 years ago • Like Cory B. Several studies suggest that training by heart rate is not beneficial to optimal performance. One thing heart rate tracking can do is show session-by-session effort on a relative basis. This can be helpful if a runner is trying to compare a summer run (90° & 90% humidity) with a winter run (35° 55% [this morning in Houston]). Obviously, pace isn't a good comparison because blood viscosity changes with weather climate differences. Relative comparisons can also be made for flat versus hilly runs. 2 years ago edit Cory B. Heart rate training is essentially an old aerobics concept. (Very useful in its proper context.) However if you go for a +20 minute run, you're assuredly "in the zone". 2 years ago edit Ange Good point Cory - I always appreciate your perspective 2 years ago • Like Cory B. Almost forgot, the best use of heart rate monitors for runners is to prevent over-training. Most recreational runners don't need to worry about that! 2 years ago edit P Peter L. I have to agree with Cory - I know a lot of people use HRM's all the time, but I'm not one of them. I bought one last year, and it rarely leaves my gym bag. With the Garmin, you become very attuned to pacing, and I generally know how hard I'm working by how fast I'm running. 2 years ago • Like