Calling All Runners - Help!

Wow, I just typed this post, got almost to the end, had a charlie horse cramp in my leg, hopped out of my chair to walk it off, and while doing that, I hit something on my keyboard that wiped out my entire post!  What the heck!

Okay.  So here is my question.  It's with regard to heartrate.  You know how on the cardio machines at the gym, they have that little chart that shows you your heartrate zone.  Well, if my heartrate according to the chart should be around 144 for 80% and when I'm running, it's actually up around 175 or 180, is that okay?   I am still trying to lose a few pounds.  So I want to get the most out of my workouts.  Should I slow it down a little to bring my heartrate down, or am I okay where I'm at? 

Thank you to anybody who can help me with this question.  :)

So anyway, I got to the gym again today, two days in a row.  Yes!  And I'm back on track making healthier choices in what I eat, and I feel sooooo much better.  Funny, I've been reading a lot of people out there who have struggled with this lately.   I had ten days of not making the wisest choices and really felt it physically. 

I ran again at the gym today, intervals again, this time, I bumped it to 2 minutes walking, 3 minutes running, did that for 30 minutes, and then a 5 minute cool down at the end.  It felt great, got a good sweat going, and I even bumped my speed up to 6 miles an hour a couple times, which is a speed I haven't done since my surgery last year.  Felt Great!  Now I'm going to be skating tonight, so I'll probably skip the gym tomorrow and let the body rest.  Hope to get back to the gym Friday, although the schedule is always difficult on Friday.

Well, time to hop in the shower and get ready for skating tonight.   I know, it's a lot of activity for me in one day with the knee still healing, but I'll take it easy, more social than skating.   :)