Workout: 6mi with 15min at 70% max HR, 15 min at 75% max HR, 15 min at 80% max HR and the remaining time as a cool down.

I'm experimenting with training with the heart rate monitor because of what I wrote earlier about not pushing myself and not knowing how much it is appropriate to push. For the most part, I'm trying to figure out what is 75% of my max HR and what that is supposed to feel like. The formula 220-age is okay for a general guess, but I'd like to try to be more specific than that. So I'll play with it for awhile. I've read that you hit about 95% at the end of a really hard 5k effort so hopefully I'll have a pretty good idea between my workouts and the Shamrock Shuffle in March.

Otherwise... Booooo... Just when I was getting used to all the dry weather we've been having, the snow is coming back again. We are supposed to have snow from Tuesday to Saturday. I really wanted to try to run with the group on Sunday, but I don't want to get stuck on the bike trainer on Saturday because it's snowy and icy out. Seriously. Will winter ever end?

Here's my question of the day: Does anyone else use a heart rate monitor? What are your goals for using it? How did you estimate your max HR? I like running gadgets, and that's what this is, but I do want to get the most out of using it.