Why do I care so much about my heart rate?

I have been talking A LOT about my heart rate in my posts about my training runs. I am probably borderline obsessive about where my heart rate is and how hard I am working during each of my runs. Your heart rate is the best way to determine if you are working at an optimal level, if you are working too hard or if you just aren't working hard enough. Depending on what type of running workout you are doing, your heart rate should correspond to the appropriate effort level. In other words, if you are doing an interval run, your heart rate should be at your maximum effort but if you are doing a long, easy run, you should be exerting minimal effort in order to complete the distance of the workout. Before I purchased my heart rate monitor, I was using the basic talk to determine my level of effort. When I ran on the treadmill, I was pushing myself to my limit, which means I wasn't working hard enough if I could mouth the words to the song blasting through my headphones. When I ran outside, I was trying to achieve a certain distance so I wanted to be able to carry on a conversation or sing the song playing on my iPod. I chose to purchase a heart rate monitor before I really started my half marathon training program because I wanted a better understanding of my effort level during each run. I found some great articles on runnersworld.com about Heart Rate Training Zones and How to use your Heart Rate Monitor, which has really helped me figure out where my effort level should be during each of my runs. This information has helped me to understand how effective my training actually is in improving my overall fitness.

• Heart Rate Zones for my Training Runs:
• Easy Run (recovery zone) - 65% to 70%
• 126.1 BPM to 135.8 BPM
• Training Run (aerobic zone) - 75% to 85%
• 145.5 BPM to 164.9 BPM
• Tempo Run (threshold run) - 88% to 92%
• 170.7 BPM to 178.5 BPM
• Intervals (VO2 max zone) - 95% to 100%
• 184.3 BPM to 194.0 BPM

*Note: According to traditional maximum heart rate equation (MHR = 220 - age), my maximum heart rate should be 194 BPM.