Today's run was supposed to be 12 miles. My first thought on waking up was that it was rainy, and with an extra week in the schedule, I could do the long 12 mile run next week instead. The benefit to that would be that it would allow the proper taper - at least, it would allow the taper as prescribed in the training plan. It was definately not lack of desire or motivation.
On the other hand - rain is part of running. You sometimes just have to deal with it. Plus, it's not like I'm so competitive that the training plan as to be incredibly precise for me to achieve my goals.
The other factor in my mind is medical in nature, and wondering whether doing a long run at the moment is the best thing. In short, I think I have developed an inguinal hernia on my left side. Four years ago, I had developed one on my right side and had it repaired. Without going into all the details, the main point is that running did not cause my predisposition to the condition, genetics did. Running certainly doesn't help with all the jarring - but when I developed one on the other side, I wasn't running at all. So for me, chances are the blowing out the left side was only a matter of time. This Friday I have an appointment with my doctor to get an official diagnosis, and discuss options for allowing me to continue with the half marathon without making things worse in the meantime. As odd as it sounds, I hope it comes back positive, and I can get the ball rolling on surgical repair this winter. I'd rather enter next spring all fixed up and ready to go rather than have a lingering issue to worry about. Plus, I have LOTS of use-it-or-lose-it vacation time.
So, all things considered, this week will likely be a short run week. For a few days now I've found that at about the 4-5 mile mark, I start feeling the effects of said medical condition - so until I get to the doctor, long runs are on hold.
Total Distance: 4.65 miles
Total Time: 45:59
Avg HR: 147
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
6 Miles - 9/27
With rain in the forecast for the whole day, there was really no way to avoid it. I started off around 12:30-12:45pm when it wasn't raining, but at about the 3 mile mark, the sky opened up. I got completely soaked.
But that doesn't mean I can't run. Who is to say that race day won't be in the rain anyway? Some rain is ok - it cools you off and isn't too much of a hindrance. However, after a long enough time, or heavy enough rain, your feet get wet. Then the concern is about the condition of the skin on your feet - skin tears, blisters, etc.
Three miles isn't too much for it to be a concern, though - so I kept going. It got a little interesting having to dodge puddles and sometimes stopping to let cars go by so that I wouldn't get splashed, but this wasn't a run where time was a major factor.
Total Time: 1:02:23
Total Distance: 6 Miles
Avg HR: 151
But that doesn't mean I can't run. Who is to say that race day won't be in the rain anyway? Some rain is ok - it cools you off and isn't too much of a hindrance. However, after a long enough time, or heavy enough rain, your feet get wet. Then the concern is about the condition of the skin on your feet - skin tears, blisters, etc.
Three miles isn't too much for it to be a concern, though - so I kept going. It got a little interesting having to dodge puddles and sometimes stopping to let cars go by so that I wouldn't get splashed, but this wasn't a run where time was a major factor.
Total Time: 1:02:23
Total Distance: 6 Miles
Avg HR: 151
Thursday, September 25, 2008
7 Miles - 9/25
I had thought earlier (a few weeks ago) that perhaps a good idea would be to have the day after speedwork be a recovery run, and then the day after that would be a tempo run. However, with the distance of the runs after speedwork getting longer (total of 13 miles this week, as opposed to earlier in the program where the distance was about half), I decided that perhaps that isn't such a great idea.
This was also brought on by the fact that my ankles were slightly uncomfortable. I'm not really sure why - it is not like I've had ankle discomfort after one of the long runs, so I dont know why I would have it now. The only thought I had was that perhaps this weeks speedwork, which included some hills, maybe resulted in parts of my ankle receiving more abuse then they normally do. This would be due to the slightly different angling of the foot when placed on the ground beneath. It seems to correspond with the fact that the front of the ankles are uncomfortable. Who knows - it is just a thought.
With the runs getting longer, I end up running in the dark on a regular basis now, which means donning the super loud neon yellow safety shirt, and bringing an LED flashlight along with me. On the plus side, there is no sun to worry about.
Total Distance: 7 miles
Total Time: 1:07:01
Average HR: 149
Not much else to comment on, except that my 150 pace tends to put me around the 9:30 min/mile mark on a regular basis, whereas previously it put me north of 10 minutes.
This was also brought on by the fact that my ankles were slightly uncomfortable. I'm not really sure why - it is not like I've had ankle discomfort after one of the long runs, so I dont know why I would have it now. The only thought I had was that perhaps this weeks speedwork, which included some hills, maybe resulted in parts of my ankle receiving more abuse then they normally do. This would be due to the slightly different angling of the foot when placed on the ground beneath. It seems to correspond with the fact that the front of the ankles are uncomfortable. Who knows - it is just a thought.
With the runs getting longer, I end up running in the dark on a regular basis now, which means donning the super loud neon yellow safety shirt, and bringing an LED flashlight along with me. On the plus side, there is no sun to worry about.
Total Distance: 7 miles
Total Time: 1:07:01
Average HR: 149
Not much else to comment on, except that my 150 pace tends to put me around the 9:30 min/mile mark on a regular basis, whereas previously it put me north of 10 minutes.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
6 Miles - 9/24
These runs following speedwork days have steadily gotten longer. They started out around 3 miles, but have gone to 4 miles, then 5, and now 6. Fortunately, it appears that my legs have adapted as well - the initial speedwork days were so exhausting to my legs that they would be pretty well shot for a few days afterwards.
I made a mental mistake today in that I started out figuring I'd go for the 155-160 HR range. That had put me around the 9 min/mile pace for about 2 miles before it dawned on me that todays run, being after a speed work day, is supposed to be a recovery run, and therefore is supposed to be at a slower pace on purpose. I suppose it is good that I felt good enough to want to push things a little bit - but it did require consciously slowing down a few times during the run to keep my HR down a bit. Especially towards the end, when I was doing a quick calc of my overall pace - I was really tempted to dial up the pace for the last mile, but I had to keep telling myself that the point of todays run is recovery - not performance.
Total Distance: 6 Miles
Total Time: 58:28
Avg HR: 150
I made a mental mistake today in that I started out figuring I'd go for the 155-160 HR range. That had put me around the 9 min/mile pace for about 2 miles before it dawned on me that todays run, being after a speed work day, is supposed to be a recovery run, and therefore is supposed to be at a slower pace on purpose. I suppose it is good that I felt good enough to want to push things a little bit - but it did require consciously slowing down a few times during the run to keep my HR down a bit. Especially towards the end, when I was doing a quick calc of my overall pace - I was really tempted to dial up the pace for the last mile, but I had to keep telling myself that the point of todays run is recovery - not performance.
Total Distance: 6 Miles
Total Time: 58:28
Avg HR: 150
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Mile Repeats - 9/23
Redemption.
The day of rest was perfect. I woke up this morning and had very little, if any, residual soreness in my back from this past weekend, and my legs felt good again.
Todays workout was the last real speed workout on the training plan - being 4 x 1 mile repeats at a 5-10k pace. That was before I realized that the training plan ends a week before the race - so there is a good chance I'll do more speedwork next week - but we'll see. I decided to go for an average HR of 165-170, like the last set of mile repeats a few week ago. With the 880 speed work during the past couple weeks being at an average of 170, I figured I should be able to maintain the 165-170 rate a bit better this time around. However, once again - the average HR displayed is lower due to ramp up time. So when I say an average HR of 165-170, that generally corresponds to getting the HR up to that point and keeping it in that range, plus or minus a few bpm due to grade.
Also different today from previous mile repeats was that I took the full 2 minutes walk rest in between each repeat, as opposed to jogging in place until my HR got down to the 150 range. From looking at various training plans and doing more reading up on how plans are designed, it just seems like doing a walking rest is generally the preferred method in between repeats. In my case today, this got my HR down to the 115 range at the end of the 2 minute rest.
So, here we go:
Mile 1 Repeat: 7:41 Avg HR 161 end HR 167
Mile 2 Repeat: 7:43 Avg HR 163 end HR 173
Mile 3 Repeat: 7:50 Avg HR 164 end HR 167
Mile 4 Repeat: 8:04 Avg HR 164 end HR 170
Total Distance: 4.12 miles
Avg HR: 163
Average Pace: 7:36
Wow! What a difference! Looking at the numbers for my first set of mile repeats back on 8/27, I did three repeats, shooting for 170 bpm, and did them around the 9 min/mile pace. Barely a month later, a solid 80 seconds have been knocked off. Looking back at that days blog entry, I'm reminded how painful that speedwork was, and when I think about the subsequent days of speedwork in the following weeks - they each have gotten a little easier. I still find that they are the hardest workouts of the week (harder than the long runs, which surprised me), but I'm really surprised that only one true speed workout a week is making that much of a difference.
The day of rest was perfect. I woke up this morning and had very little, if any, residual soreness in my back from this past weekend, and my legs felt good again.
Todays workout was the last real speed workout on the training plan - being 4 x 1 mile repeats at a 5-10k pace. That was before I realized that the training plan ends a week before the race - so there is a good chance I'll do more speedwork next week - but we'll see. I decided to go for an average HR of 165-170, like the last set of mile repeats a few week ago. With the 880 speed work during the past couple weeks being at an average of 170, I figured I should be able to maintain the 165-170 rate a bit better this time around. However, once again - the average HR displayed is lower due to ramp up time. So when I say an average HR of 165-170, that generally corresponds to getting the HR up to that point and keeping it in that range, plus or minus a few bpm due to grade.
Also different today from previous mile repeats was that I took the full 2 minutes walk rest in between each repeat, as opposed to jogging in place until my HR got down to the 150 range. From looking at various training plans and doing more reading up on how plans are designed, it just seems like doing a walking rest is generally the preferred method in between repeats. In my case today, this got my HR down to the 115 range at the end of the 2 minute rest.
So, here we go:
Mile 1 Repeat: 7:41 Avg HR 161 end HR 167
Mile 2 Repeat: 7:43 Avg HR 163 end HR 173
Mile 3 Repeat: 7:50 Avg HR 164 end HR 167
Mile 4 Repeat: 8:04 Avg HR 164 end HR 170
Total Distance: 4.12 miles
Avg HR: 163
Average Pace: 7:36
Wow! What a difference! Looking at the numbers for my first set of mile repeats back on 8/27, I did three repeats, shooting for 170 bpm, and did them around the 9 min/mile pace. Barely a month later, a solid 80 seconds have been knocked off. Looking back at that days blog entry, I'm reminded how painful that speedwork was, and when I think about the subsequent days of speedwork in the following weeks - they each have gotten a little easier. I still find that they are the hardest workouts of the week (harder than the long runs, which surprised me), but I'm really surprised that only one true speed workout a week is making that much of a difference.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
9/21 - Some days you have it...
... And some days you don't.
The plan was to do an 8 miler today, and I originally thought about doing it in the morning due to afternoon plans that were already scheduled. However, when I woke up, my back was still stiff from sealcoating the driveway yesterday, and I was still a bit sore all over from the swimming last night. So, the morning was out.
So once I had some time in the afternoon, I finally set off. Having just finished pushing a mower around the yard for about an hour and fifteen minutes, I was already a little bit tired, but figured I'd plod through it. However, I was still quite stiff and things just didn't feel as smooth and loose. I figured I'd give it a mile or two to see what happens, but started re-evaluating whether I would actually do all 8 miles. I also started doubting the wisdom of doing the 8 miles right after a 7 miler - the original plan had a rest day in between, and well timed rest can be a very important part of any training program.
After a couple miles, things did start to loosen up, but it still wasn't quite right. It was very strange - the level of effort seemed similar to a normal run, but my HR was in the 130's a lot - significantly lower than my normal long run rate. However, I could tell that my pace was also quite a bit slower as well.
After about 4 miles, I felt a little twinge near my hip, and decided that was enough. Between not feeling right in the first place, it taking a long time to loosen up (to whatever degree I could), and the doubt as to weather I should do the full 8 or not - any incident of a potential real physical problem was just too much. What I felt was similar to what I had felt during the 7 mile run back on 9/1 - and since that had not flared up during longer runs like the 9 miler or the 10 miler - I'm not too overly concerned. But perhaps rest is the proper prescription in this case.
So here are todays unimpressive results:
Total Time: 45:47
Total Distance: 4.25 Miles
Avg HR: 137
It is strange - the 10:46 pace of today is in line with many of the other long runs I've done in the pace, which were generally around 10:30 per mile. Yet the HR is so much lower. Perhaps the pace during longer runs is not nearly as steady as I thought, and I end up slowing down quite a bit towards to end to keep the HR in the 150 zone. On the other hand, today was a much shorter run.
Whatever - it is what it is.
The plan was to do an 8 miler today, and I originally thought about doing it in the morning due to afternoon plans that were already scheduled. However, when I woke up, my back was still stiff from sealcoating the driveway yesterday, and I was still a bit sore all over from the swimming last night. So, the morning was out.
So once I had some time in the afternoon, I finally set off. Having just finished pushing a mower around the yard for about an hour and fifteen minutes, I was already a little bit tired, but figured I'd plod through it. However, I was still quite stiff and things just didn't feel as smooth and loose. I figured I'd give it a mile or two to see what happens, but started re-evaluating whether I would actually do all 8 miles. I also started doubting the wisdom of doing the 8 miles right after a 7 miler - the original plan had a rest day in between, and well timed rest can be a very important part of any training program.
After a couple miles, things did start to loosen up, but it still wasn't quite right. It was very strange - the level of effort seemed similar to a normal run, but my HR was in the 130's a lot - significantly lower than my normal long run rate. However, I could tell that my pace was also quite a bit slower as well.
After about 4 miles, I felt a little twinge near my hip, and decided that was enough. Between not feeling right in the first place, it taking a long time to loosen up (to whatever degree I could), and the doubt as to weather I should do the full 8 or not - any incident of a potential real physical problem was just too much. What I felt was similar to what I had felt during the 7 mile run back on 9/1 - and since that had not flared up during longer runs like the 9 miler or the 10 miler - I'm not too overly concerned. But perhaps rest is the proper prescription in this case.
So here are todays unimpressive results:
Total Time: 45:47
Total Distance: 4.25 Miles
Avg HR: 137
It is strange - the 10:46 pace of today is in line with many of the other long runs I've done in the pace, which were generally around 10:30 per mile. Yet the HR is so much lower. Perhaps the pace during longer runs is not nearly as steady as I thought, and I end up slowing down quite a bit towards to end to keep the HR in the 150 zone. On the other hand, today was a much shorter run.
Whatever - it is what it is.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
27 Minutes swim - 9/20
Today I doubled up by doing a swim session in addition to the running this morning. I really wanted to try and get my brain to a happy place where it could zone out like it does when I'm running - so I decided I'd try and just go for a full 30 minutes without stopping, and hopefully somewhere in there my brain would turn off and time would pass.
Well, that didn't quite happen. There is more coordination required for swimming, since you have to time movements to avoid swallowing a mouthful of water. So some degree of brain power had to be maintained. Unfortunately, it seemed like that small amount required was enough to keep me from being able to zone out.
But I was successful in getting more time in overall. Rather than the 18-20 minutes of previous sessions, I was able to get closer to 30 minutes this time. I also experimented with going from one type of stroke to another to vary things up a bit and give a rest to some muscles without having to stop entirely.
Lap 1: 5:18 Avg HR: 140
Lap 2: 5:01 Avg HR: 152
Lap 3: 3:57 Avg HR: 155
Lap 4: 4:36 Avg HR: 155
Lap 5: 3:07 Avg HR: 153
Lap 6: 5:02 Avg HR: 152
Total Time: 27:01
Avg HR: 151
The power setting was generally between 40 and 45 - I varied it a couple times, but dont remember specifics.
Well, that didn't quite happen. There is more coordination required for swimming, since you have to time movements to avoid swallowing a mouthful of water. So some degree of brain power had to be maintained. Unfortunately, it seemed like that small amount required was enough to keep me from being able to zone out.
But I was successful in getting more time in overall. Rather than the 18-20 minutes of previous sessions, I was able to get closer to 30 minutes this time. I also experimented with going from one type of stroke to another to vary things up a bit and give a rest to some muscles without having to stop entirely.
Lap 1: 5:18 Avg HR: 140
Lap 2: 5:01 Avg HR: 152
Lap 3: 3:57 Avg HR: 155
Lap 4: 4:36 Avg HR: 155
Lap 5: 3:07 Avg HR: 153
Lap 6: 5:02 Avg HR: 152
Total Time: 27:01
Avg HR: 151
The power setting was generally between 40 and 45 - I varied it a couple times, but dont remember specifics.
7 Miles - 9/20
Based on the schedule, Friday was supposed to be the 7 mile run. However, I was travelling back home in the evening and never had a good chance to get the run in. The original schedule had Friday be the 7 mile run day, Saturday be rest, Sunday a 3 mile run, and Monday either a 10k race or an 8 mile run. So the long run this week is not like it had been in the past where the distance increases by a mile or two. Given that I was unable to run on Friday, I decided to do the 7 miler today, and do the 8 miles tomorrow, and have Monday as a rest day. I figured this would be good for a few reasons - one, it sets my long run day to Sunday instead of Monday (which is beneficial for its own couple reasons); two - in leiu of the long endurance run for the week, it seems like a 7 miler followed by 8 might be a good compromise for not increasing distance on a single run; third - the run I'm missing is just the 3 mile run - not a big deal.
I also did this run in the morning, which is something I am not used to - and it showed. Although my legs felt fine, I had a real hard time keeping my heartrate down to the 150 area. It wanted to sneak up to 160 when any incline was reached, or when I was going faster than what seemed like a laboriously slow plod. It occured to me that there were probably a couple reasons for this: the dehydration that typically occurs during sleep, and the fact that I was running about 12 hrs after my last real meal.
The last two miles I brought the dog along with me because he needed some exercise. The unfortunate consequence of this is that it inserted some breaks in between the run - to pick him up and stopping when nature either called or threatened to call him. Alas - no training plan is executed perfectly. Dems da' breaks.
Leg 1: 54:22 avg HR: 152 (5.5 miles without dog)
Leg 2: 9:06 avg HR: 158
Leg 3: 0:33 avg HR: 143
Leg 4: 1:36 avg HR: 140
Leg 5: 4:13 avg HR: 145
Leg 6: 2:18 avg HR: 159
Total Time: 72:08
Total Distance: 7 miles
Avg HR: about 154
I also did this run in the morning, which is something I am not used to - and it showed. Although my legs felt fine, I had a real hard time keeping my heartrate down to the 150 area. It wanted to sneak up to 160 when any incline was reached, or when I was going faster than what seemed like a laboriously slow plod. It occured to me that there were probably a couple reasons for this: the dehydration that typically occurs during sleep, and the fact that I was running about 12 hrs after my last real meal.
The last two miles I brought the dog along with me because he needed some exercise. The unfortunate consequence of this is that it inserted some breaks in between the run - to pick him up and stopping when nature either called or threatened to call him. Alas - no training plan is executed perfectly. Dems da' breaks.
Leg 1: 54:22 avg HR: 152 (5.5 miles without dog)
Leg 2: 9:06 avg HR: 158
Leg 3: 0:33 avg HR: 143
Leg 4: 1:36 avg HR: 140
Leg 5: 4:13 avg HR: 145
Leg 6: 2:18 avg HR: 159
Total Time: 72:08
Total Distance: 7 miles
Avg HR: about 154
Thursday, September 18, 2008
4 Miles - 9/18
The workouts the day after speed workouts seem to consistently be the hardest of the 'easy runs'. It takes my joints a good 1.5 to 2 miles to loosen up and start feeling kinda normal, but just as that starts to happen, some of them replace tightness with the uncomfortability of overuse - which is slightly different.
I dont know if it is just me - but it seems like the long runs, even though they last for 90 minutes or more, end up being somewhat lower impact on the joints then the speed work.
So, todays run:
Total Distance: 4.08 Miles
Total Time: 40:14
Avg HR: 147
I dont know if it is just me - but it seems like the long runs, even though they last for 90 minutes or more, end up being somewhat lower impact on the joints then the speed work.
So, todays run:
Total Distance: 4.08 Miles
Total Time: 40:14
Avg HR: 147
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
6 x 880 - 9/17
Time for the weekly speed workout. Like last week, this was comprised of 6 x 880's. Last week, I ran these sets at a local track, and did a slow jog for the 2 minutes rest period in between each set. Since I'm not home this week, I opted for a 1/4 mile stretch of straight and flat road bounded by cross streets near the hotel, and ran up and back for the 1/2 mile distance. I also decided to walk for the 2 minute period to get my HR down a bit lower.
Before I set out, I put on the HR monitor to get a more accurate reading of my resting heart rate. I had been going with 65 over the past few weeks, but there have been times recently when I've been sitting down, and it seemed to be a bit slower than that. Apparently you are supposed to obtain resting heart rate when you've been lying down for 20 minutes or so, but I didn't wait that long. After about 3-4 minutes, the lowest reading was 50 bpm - so I've updated the HR post with the new training zones. The overall effect is at the low intensities, the HR drops by about 6 bpm, and scales proportionally up to the high end, where the 95% intensity is less than 1 bpm difference.
Anyway - for today's run, I decided to build up to an avg HR of about 175, and let my speed be what it would be. I felt like I wanted to push myself a bit more then last weeks speed work, and I was curious what my endurance at that HR (which turns out to be at the 90% intensity rate) would be.
Here it goes:
Lap 1: 5:07 Avg HR 134 (warmup)
Lap 2: 3:09 Avg HR 170 (end HR 175)
Lap 3: 3:20 Avg HR 168 (end HR 179)
Lap 4: 3:24 Avg HR 170 (end HR 179)
Lap 5: 3:41 Avg HR 167 (end HR 175)
Lap 6: 3:47 Avg HR 166 (end HR 175)
Lap 7: 3:39 Avg HR 166 (end HR 175)
Total Time (excluding warmup and rest): 21:00
Total Distance (exclusing warmup and rest): 3 Miles
So, like last week, the speed tailed off as the workout progressed. Also, I'm a little surprised that the avg HR ended up in the high 160's as opposed to the low 170's. It seemed like the last 2/3 of each 880 had the HR above 170 - but I suppose perhaps the walking rest, where the HR lowered to about 120-125, vs the jogging rest last week (where the HR lowered to 155 or so) could account for that.
Regardless, for the same distance of 3 miles, I was able to shave off almost a full minute.
Before I set out, I put on the HR monitor to get a more accurate reading of my resting heart rate. I had been going with 65 over the past few weeks, but there have been times recently when I've been sitting down, and it seemed to be a bit slower than that. Apparently you are supposed to obtain resting heart rate when you've been lying down for 20 minutes or so, but I didn't wait that long. After about 3-4 minutes, the lowest reading was 50 bpm - so I've updated the HR post with the new training zones. The overall effect is at the low intensities, the HR drops by about 6 bpm, and scales proportionally up to the high end, where the 95% intensity is less than 1 bpm difference.
Anyway - for today's run, I decided to build up to an avg HR of about 175, and let my speed be what it would be. I felt like I wanted to push myself a bit more then last weeks speed work, and I was curious what my endurance at that HR (which turns out to be at the 90% intensity rate) would be.
Here it goes:
Lap 1: 5:07 Avg HR 134 (warmup)
Lap 2: 3:09 Avg HR 170 (end HR 175)
Lap 3: 3:20 Avg HR 168 (end HR 179)
Lap 4: 3:24 Avg HR 170 (end HR 179)
Lap 5: 3:41 Avg HR 167 (end HR 175)
Lap 6: 3:47 Avg HR 166 (end HR 175)
Lap 7: 3:39 Avg HR 166 (end HR 175)
Total Time (excluding warmup and rest): 21:00
Total Distance (exclusing warmup and rest): 3 Miles
So, like last week, the speed tailed off as the workout progressed. Also, I'm a little surprised that the avg HR ended up in the high 160's as opposed to the low 170's. It seemed like the last 2/3 of each 880 had the HR above 170 - but I suppose perhaps the walking rest, where the HR lowered to about 120-125, vs the jogging rest last week (where the HR lowered to 155 or so) could account for that.
Regardless, for the same distance of 3 miles, I was able to shave off almost a full minute.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Fat burning and calorie expenditure during endurance training.
During my long run yesterday, I finally worked out a simple analogy to explain why lower intensity workouts burn a higher percentage of fat than higher intensity workouts. The way that this idea is usually conveyed led to large degree of confusion for a long time for me. I've come to the conclusion that it basically comes down to the general concept being lost in translation. Very often, one is told that lower intensity workouts burn more fat, and thus for weight loss, lower intensity is the better way to go. This is reinforced by seeing a scale on a treadmill of heart rate and training zones, and the lower end of it is labelled with big letters as the 'FAT BURNING ZONE'.
The thing that perplexed me was this - it takes X calories to do an activity, say run 1 mile. Why in hell would it burn more fat if I do it at a slower pace then at a faster pace. Either way, X calories were spent and burned, right? So why does it matter?
Turns out, I was on to something. What is missing from the generalization is that the so-called fat burning zone is operating on a percentage basis of where the energy comes from. A larger percentage of the calories required for the activity comes from fat when doing the exercise at a low intensity as opposed to a higher intensity. However, percentages are not absolutes - and in reality, more calories overall are burned by going at the higher intensity rate.
So the analogy I thought of was this. Imagine you are tending to a small fire, which represents your basic metabolic rate of calories burned, and you have 1 cord of nice, dry, aged firewood available and 3 cords of wet firewood available. The nice, easily burned wood represents the glycogen (energy) in the bloodstream, and the wet firewood represents the energy you have available in fat reserves. The BTU's are there, but not as easily accessible, becaeuse the excess water must be driven off first.
For whatever reason, you have need to stoke the fire and get it burning hotter. This represents the extra energy required by the exercise you are doing. You have a few choices - you can use the dry firewood, you can use the wet firewood, or you can use a little of both types.
If the fire needs to get real hot real quick, which in this analogy means you are sprinting at top speed, the only option available is to dig into your store of nice dry aged firewood. Once hot enough, you can throw in a small amount of the wet firewood so that you conserve a small amount of the ready-to-go firewood, but the vast majority of fuel is the good dry firewood. Lets say in this example that the ratio is 6 pieces of good firewood to 1 piece of the wet firewood. In this scenario, the available fuel of dry firewood is expended relatively quickly, and before too long, there is little to none left. You are out of gas, and can no longer continue at the same speed. You are forced to slow down to whatever meager flame can be attained from burning a fuel mixture comprised mostly of wet firewood.
On the other hand, if you need to get the fire just a little bit warmer than it originally was, which in this analogy means increasing your pace slightly above normal metabolic rate (essentially somewhere in the aerobic zone), then you can add in a little bit of the easily burned firewood, and a little bit of the wet firewood. You may be able to maintain the desired fire with a ratio of more like 2:1, rather then 6:1. As a result, the percentage of wet firewood (fat) to dry firewood (glycogen) is higher, at 33% vs 16%.
However, one needs to keep in mind that all else being equal (time, conditions, etc) - higher intensity ultimately burns more calories. The hotter flame is able to raise the dry firewood to combustion temperatures much more quickly, and thus consume fuel at a faster rate than the smaller flame.
Ok, so maybe this analogy is not quite as ground breaking as I thought it was when I thought of it. If so, I'm blaming it on the fact that I thought of it on mile 7 and during obvious oxygen deficit to the brain :)
Here is a good article I found that discusses aerobic training, anaerobic training, metabolism and all that good stuff.
The thing that perplexed me was this - it takes X calories to do an activity, say run 1 mile. Why in hell would it burn more fat if I do it at a slower pace then at a faster pace. Either way, X calories were spent and burned, right? So why does it matter?
Turns out, I was on to something. What is missing from the generalization is that the so-called fat burning zone is operating on a percentage basis of where the energy comes from. A larger percentage of the calories required for the activity comes from fat when doing the exercise at a low intensity as opposed to a higher intensity. However, percentages are not absolutes - and in reality, more calories overall are burned by going at the higher intensity rate.
So the analogy I thought of was this. Imagine you are tending to a small fire, which represents your basic metabolic rate of calories burned, and you have 1 cord of nice, dry, aged firewood available and 3 cords of wet firewood available. The nice, easily burned wood represents the glycogen (energy) in the bloodstream, and the wet firewood represents the energy you have available in fat reserves. The BTU's are there, but not as easily accessible, becaeuse the excess water must be driven off first.
For whatever reason, you have need to stoke the fire and get it burning hotter. This represents the extra energy required by the exercise you are doing. You have a few choices - you can use the dry firewood, you can use the wet firewood, or you can use a little of both types.
If the fire needs to get real hot real quick, which in this analogy means you are sprinting at top speed, the only option available is to dig into your store of nice dry aged firewood. Once hot enough, you can throw in a small amount of the wet firewood so that you conserve a small amount of the ready-to-go firewood, but the vast majority of fuel is the good dry firewood. Lets say in this example that the ratio is 6 pieces of good firewood to 1 piece of the wet firewood. In this scenario, the available fuel of dry firewood is expended relatively quickly, and before too long, there is little to none left. You are out of gas, and can no longer continue at the same speed. You are forced to slow down to whatever meager flame can be attained from burning a fuel mixture comprised mostly of wet firewood.
On the other hand, if you need to get the fire just a little bit warmer than it originally was, which in this analogy means increasing your pace slightly above normal metabolic rate (essentially somewhere in the aerobic zone), then you can add in a little bit of the easily burned firewood, and a little bit of the wet firewood. You may be able to maintain the desired fire with a ratio of more like 2:1, rather then 6:1. As a result, the percentage of wet firewood (fat) to dry firewood (glycogen) is higher, at 33% vs 16%.
However, one needs to keep in mind that all else being equal (time, conditions, etc) - higher intensity ultimately burns more calories. The hotter flame is able to raise the dry firewood to combustion temperatures much more quickly, and thus consume fuel at a faster rate than the smaller flame.
Ok, so maybe this analogy is not quite as ground breaking as I thought it was when I thought of it. If so, I'm blaming it on the fact that I thought of it on mile 7 and during obvious oxygen deficit to the brain :)
Here is a good article I found that discusses aerobic training, anaerobic training, metabolism and all that good stuff.
Monday, September 15, 2008
10 Miles - 9/15
Todays run was the 2nd longest of the training program at 10 miles. Once again, the idea with these long runs is slow and easy, and to gradually increase the amount of pounding that the lower body joints receive in order to build up their toughness and endurance.
This time, a new wrinkle was added in. I'm in Easton, MD for work this week, so part of the challenge was to find, in short order, a place where I could run 10 miles fairly comfortably. So, what better way than to ask the locals. I was told that Oxford Rd (Rt 333) is a good choice because of the very wide shoulders, its length, and the relatively light amount of traffic. After doing a quick recon ride during lunch, I decided it would be a good fit, and I could get there relatively easily from my hotel - so no need to drive and park the car.
Before I left, however, I stocked up on a 24 oz bottle of gatorade and a 24 oz bottle of water from the local convenience store. This was where knowing a little bit about my sweat rate paid dividends. Knowing that in relatively cool conditions with no sun, I'll lose about 2.2 lbs of water per hour, I figured that 48 oz of fluid for a near 2 hour run in slightly warmer conditions should be ok. While it is still a net loss, and that weight will have to be made up afterwards, it is much better being in a fluid deficit of 15-20 oz then closer to 60 oz. My body is used to 15-20 oz, as that is what is loses during short runs when I dont bring fluids along with me. Plus, I didn't want the extra bulk and weight of 32 oz bottles - that would be quite a bit more cumbersome.
Overall, it was a very good run. The first 5 miles were a breeze, and went by pretty quickly. On the way back, I found that my hips started tightening up around the 80 minute mark. Not too bad, but noticable. Then around the 95 minute mark they tightened up a bit more. While it didn't hurt, it started to get annoying. At this point, I still had about 12-16 oz of water left, and my HR started creeping up to 155 and I had a difficult time getting it down, so I started drinking water a little more aggressively. After about 10 minutes, things loosened up a bit and the HR went down. Not sure if the water was the primary reason or not, but it was an interesting coincidence.
Total Time: 1:47:47
Avg HR: 151
Total Distance: 10.1 miles
Due to the tightness, and the fact that when I stopped my knees felt a little bit like jello (funky feeling - I recommend everyone try it at least once), I stretched out a bit during the cool down. Alternating walking a bit with stretching various muscle groups (hamstrings, quads, calfs, etc) seemed to work well, and my knees started feeling normal again.
Also, just as a precaution, I'm planning to stretch a bit more throughout the evening, and also try to get some cold on my knees. I haveno pain at all, so I'm not concerned, but taking precautions never hurts. Without a cold compress on me, it looks like I'll have to get creative with wet washcloths and the mini fridge/freezer in the hotel room.
This time, a new wrinkle was added in. I'm in Easton, MD for work this week, so part of the challenge was to find, in short order, a place where I could run 10 miles fairly comfortably. So, what better way than to ask the locals. I was told that Oxford Rd (Rt 333) is a good choice because of the very wide shoulders, its length, and the relatively light amount of traffic. After doing a quick recon ride during lunch, I decided it would be a good fit, and I could get there relatively easily from my hotel - so no need to drive and park the car.
Before I left, however, I stocked up on a 24 oz bottle of gatorade and a 24 oz bottle of water from the local convenience store. This was where knowing a little bit about my sweat rate paid dividends. Knowing that in relatively cool conditions with no sun, I'll lose about 2.2 lbs of water per hour, I figured that 48 oz of fluid for a near 2 hour run in slightly warmer conditions should be ok. While it is still a net loss, and that weight will have to be made up afterwards, it is much better being in a fluid deficit of 15-20 oz then closer to 60 oz. My body is used to 15-20 oz, as that is what is loses during short runs when I dont bring fluids along with me. Plus, I didn't want the extra bulk and weight of 32 oz bottles - that would be quite a bit more cumbersome.
Overall, it was a very good run. The first 5 miles were a breeze, and went by pretty quickly. On the way back, I found that my hips started tightening up around the 80 minute mark. Not too bad, but noticable. Then around the 95 minute mark they tightened up a bit more. While it didn't hurt, it started to get annoying. At this point, I still had about 12-16 oz of water left, and my HR started creeping up to 155 and I had a difficult time getting it down, so I started drinking water a little more aggressively. After about 10 minutes, things loosened up a bit and the HR went down. Not sure if the water was the primary reason or not, but it was an interesting coincidence.
Total Time: 1:47:47
Avg HR: 151
Total Distance: 10.1 miles
Due to the tightness, and the fact that when I stopped my knees felt a little bit like jello (funky feeling - I recommend everyone try it at least once), I stretched out a bit during the cool down. Alternating walking a bit with stretching various muscle groups (hamstrings, quads, calfs, etc) seemed to work well, and my knees started feeling normal again.
Also, just as a precaution, I'm planning to stretch a bit more throughout the evening, and also try to get some cold on my knees. I haveno pain at all, so I'm not concerned, but taking precautions never hurts. Without a cold compress on me, it looks like I'll have to get creative with wet washcloths and the mini fridge/freezer in the hotel room.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
20 minutes swim - 9/13
Today is a definate running rest day, and tomorrow will likely be another one as well. Being the one before the weeks long run of 10 miles, I am operating under the thought that it (the 5 miler scheduled for tomorrow) is the least critical of the planned runs. Being conservative with respect to possible injury - I'd rather have the extra rest leading up to the long run day.
Just like last week, perfect opportunity to jump into the endless pool. I started out thinking I'd do more than I did last week (about 20 minutes) - but I started realizing that time passes by relatively slowly. At least with running, you see things pass by (in my case, everything is a blur, as I am like the road runner out there. Meep! Meep!) - and even swimming laps, you have the turns and walls - a sense of at least making progress. There isn't quite the same sense of progress in an endless pool, and I'm starting to find that to be a challenge.
So I need to come up with some way to occupy my brain. Perhaps a waterproof cover for my ipod, along with waterproof headphones would help do the trick. I normally dont like listening to music while exercising, as the average song length of 5 minutes or so just makes me more conscious of the time passing. However, in this case, it just might work and be worth a shot. We'll have to see - it is a bit heavy of an investment for a 'maybe'.
Anyhow - todays total exercise time was 20:11. I dont have HR info because even when tightened further, the HR chest strap kept slipping. I did just come across a web page where someone mentioned the idea of using stretch nylon to help hold it in place.
Just like last week, perfect opportunity to jump into the endless pool. I started out thinking I'd do more than I did last week (about 20 minutes) - but I started realizing that time passes by relatively slowly. At least with running, you see things pass by (in my case, everything is a blur, as I am like the road runner out there. Meep! Meep!) - and even swimming laps, you have the turns and walls - a sense of at least making progress. There isn't quite the same sense of progress in an endless pool, and I'm starting to find that to be a challenge.
So I need to come up with some way to occupy my brain. Perhaps a waterproof cover for my ipod, along with waterproof headphones would help do the trick. I normally dont like listening to music while exercising, as the average song length of 5 minutes or so just makes me more conscious of the time passing. However, in this case, it just might work and be worth a shot. We'll have to see - it is a bit heavy of an investment for a 'maybe'.
Anyhow - todays total exercise time was 20:11. I dont have HR info because even when tightened further, the HR chest strap kept slipping. I did just come across a web page where someone mentioned the idea of using stretch nylon to help hold it in place.
Friday, September 12, 2008
6 Miles - 9/12
Believe it or not, running in the rain can be an oddly enjoyable experience. Provided you are wearing proper running clothes that dont hold a lot of water, and you are able to keep your feet relatively dry, there is something incredibly soothing about having rain drops hit you while you are running along.
I debated whether to go on todays run. My legs and everything felt fine this morning, but as the day wore on, some parts of my left knee seemed a little inflammed still. While I'm a little hypersensitive to knee injuries due to running, I also know that many times, knee pain will go away if treated properly (RICE = Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation). However, given all the scheduling factors for the next few days (leaving on Sunday for a week, Monday being long run day, tomorrow being the scheduled rest day), I decided to give it a shot, figuring that I'd more then likely have both tomorrow and Sunday as rest days.
So once I decided to go for it, I thought it would be cool if I were able to run the 6 miles in my secondary goal race pace of 9 minutes/mile. Since yesterday was a slow tempo day, and with two rest days coming up, I figured I'd shoot for an average HR of about 165-170, and see what I could do in terms of endurance and pace at the faster tempo.
So after the warmup first mile, I found that there was no way I was going to be able to keep up 165-170 for the entire six miles. So I quickly decided to go with 8 minutes at the 165-170, followed by 4 minutes of a slow jog where I would try to get my HR down to 150. It didn't take too long to discover that getting down to 150 was going to be difficult, as it would get down to maybe 158 or so, but generally stay at 160 for the 4 minutes. Oh well - 160 it was.
Leg 1 - 16:54 avg HR 154 (2 miles - includes easy warm up mile)
Leg 2 - 4:01 avg HR 160
Leg 3 - 8:00 avg HR 168
Leg 4 - 4:04 avg HR 162
Leg 5 - 8:16 avg HR 169
Leg 6 - 4:00 avg HR 162
Leg 7 - 5:55 avg HR 173
Total Time - 51:30
Total Distance - 6 miles
Avg HR - 163
Avg Pace - 8:35
Well, slap me in the ass and call me Sally!
Would you look at that!
Not only did I reach 9 minute miles, I was darn close to 8:30 minute miles!
I really doubt I'd be able to keep that up for another 7 miles to do that for an entire half marathon, but it is encouraging nonetheless.
I debated whether to go on todays run. My legs and everything felt fine this morning, but as the day wore on, some parts of my left knee seemed a little inflammed still. While I'm a little hypersensitive to knee injuries due to running, I also know that many times, knee pain will go away if treated properly (RICE = Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation). However, given all the scheduling factors for the next few days (leaving on Sunday for a week, Monday being long run day, tomorrow being the scheduled rest day), I decided to give it a shot, figuring that I'd more then likely have both tomorrow and Sunday as rest days.
So once I decided to go for it, I thought it would be cool if I were able to run the 6 miles in my secondary goal race pace of 9 minutes/mile. Since yesterday was a slow tempo day, and with two rest days coming up, I figured I'd shoot for an average HR of about 165-170, and see what I could do in terms of endurance and pace at the faster tempo.
So after the warmup first mile, I found that there was no way I was going to be able to keep up 165-170 for the entire six miles. So I quickly decided to go with 8 minutes at the 165-170, followed by 4 minutes of a slow jog where I would try to get my HR down to 150. It didn't take too long to discover that getting down to 150 was going to be difficult, as it would get down to maybe 158 or so, but generally stay at 160 for the 4 minutes. Oh well - 160 it was.
Leg 1 - 16:54 avg HR 154 (2 miles - includes easy warm up mile)
Leg 2 - 4:01 avg HR 160
Leg 3 - 8:00 avg HR 168
Leg 4 - 4:04 avg HR 162
Leg 5 - 8:16 avg HR 169
Leg 6 - 4:00 avg HR 162
Leg 7 - 5:55 avg HR 173
Total Time - 51:30
Total Distance - 6 miles
Avg HR - 163
Avg Pace - 8:35
Well, slap me in the ass and call me Sally!
Would you look at that!
Not only did I reach 9 minute miles, I was darn close to 8:30 minute miles!
I really doubt I'd be able to keep that up for another 7 miles to do that for an entire half marathon, but it is encouraging nonetheless.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
5 Miles - 9/11
Earlier in the day, I was originally thinking that I'd do todays run as a tempo run - aiming for a HR of about 155 or so. The 5 mile distance is a solid run, and the HR of 155 is solidly in the moderate aerobic category for me. However when I thought about the purpose of yesterday's run, to extend my upper limit with speed work, and I thought about the purpose of keeping the HR down (based on the grey-zone info I posted about before), I decided that having an easy day right after a hard speed workout day would probably be best. Tomorrow's run, with a rest day afterwards, can be a tempo run.
As it turned out, it was probably a good thing. I was still slightly stiff from yesterday, and that stiffness didn't go away until about mile 2. But I definately did notice something - I was cruising along pretty good for having an avg HR of around 150, compared to my previous paces @ 150.
Total Distance: 5.25 miles
Total Time: 50:37
Avg HR: 148
Average Pace: 9:38
I was concerned that the avg HR would be in the 153 range, because any time there was a slight uphill, I found it climbing to 155 or higher. However, as soon the ground flattened out, the HR came right back down. So I noticed that my recovery time seemed to have gone down quite a bit.
Looking at the numbers, it doesn't look earth shattering - a 9:30 pace at a target HR of 150 or so. But when you compare to the last couple times I ran that loop, it sticks out. The last time I ran it, I had a similar pace (9:28), but the HR was significantly higher - 157. The time before that, I had a faster pace (9:02), but the HR was 160. That run was also the one where I alternated running for 4 minutes and walking for 40 seconds.
So all in all, while the pace may have remained largely the same, the effort my body was expending to maintain that pace had dropped pretty dramatically. Ten to twelve beats per minute doesn't seem like a lot when you are talking about 150 of them, but keep in mind that the difference between very light cardio and intense anaerobic training is only about 35 bpm. So 10-12 bpm is a fairly significant chunk.
As it turned out, it was probably a good thing. I was still slightly stiff from yesterday, and that stiffness didn't go away until about mile 2. But I definately did notice something - I was cruising along pretty good for having an avg HR of around 150, compared to my previous paces @ 150.
Total Distance: 5.25 miles
Total Time: 50:37
Avg HR: 148
Average Pace: 9:38
I was concerned that the avg HR would be in the 153 range, because any time there was a slight uphill, I found it climbing to 155 or higher. However, as soon the ground flattened out, the HR came right back down. So I noticed that my recovery time seemed to have gone down quite a bit.
Looking at the numbers, it doesn't look earth shattering - a 9:30 pace at a target HR of 150 or so. But when you compare to the last couple times I ran that loop, it sticks out. The last time I ran it, I had a similar pace (9:28), but the HR was significantly higher - 157. The time before that, I had a faster pace (9:02), but the HR was 160. That run was also the one where I alternated running for 4 minutes and walking for 40 seconds.
So all in all, while the pace may have remained largely the same, the effort my body was expending to maintain that pace had dropped pretty dramatically. Ten to twelve beats per minute doesn't seem like a lot when you are talking about 150 of them, but keep in mind that the difference between very light cardio and intense anaerobic training is only about 35 bpm. So 10-12 bpm is a fairly significant chunk.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
6 x 880 - 9/10
Today's workout was to do 6 x 880's at a 5-10k pace, with a 2 minute break in between. An 880 is 880 yards, or two times around a 1/4 mile track. So whereas the speed workouts the previous two weeks were based on an entire mile, today's goal was to increase intensity a little bit, but for a shorter length of time. The total workout distance of 3 miles was unchanged.
Earlier this week, a friend of mine who is training for a full marathon, and following the Jeff Galloway plan, remarked to me that during his speed workout, he was able to see the thought process behind it. Basically, he found that during the real workout sections of the speed repeats, his HR would get into the interval training zone, but the walk rests that were placed throughout the workout were to get the HR back down to a cool down. This process would then repeat itself however many times the workout called for. The details were slightly different, but that is the quick way to sum it up.
After the 2nd 880, I started finding the same thing. I decided that my target HR during the 880 would be 170, or 85% of my max heartrate. Since I was able to do the mile repeats at 165, I figured I could ramp it up a little further, given that these repeats were half the distance. The first interval I started out too fast (typical) - but I definately found that during the 2 minute rest phase (in which I kept jogging, albeit at a slow pace, as I didn't know whether the rest was to be a walk or not), my HR would come down to the 150-155 range - right about the range for the long run workouts.
Lap 1 - 4:30 Avg HR 143 (warmup 880)
Lap 2 - 3:14 Avg HR 171
Lap 3 - 3:37 Avg HR 170
Lap 4 - 3:47 Avg HR 168
Lap 5 - 3:51 Avg HR 167
Lap 6 - 3:46 Avg HR 166
Lap 7 - 3:39 Avg HR 168
Total Time (excluding warmup and rest): 21:54
Total Distance (excluding warmup and rest): 3 Miles
So I definately tailed off, time wise, a little bit as the workout went on - but I suppose that is to be expected. I found that during the latter repeats, the first 440 was just getting the HR back up to 170, while the second 440 was more sustained at 170. So the average tended to be lower than 170.
Earlier this week, a friend of mine who is training for a full marathon, and following the Jeff Galloway plan, remarked to me that during his speed workout, he was able to see the thought process behind it. Basically, he found that during the real workout sections of the speed repeats, his HR would get into the interval training zone, but the walk rests that were placed throughout the workout were to get the HR back down to a cool down. This process would then repeat itself however many times the workout called for. The details were slightly different, but that is the quick way to sum it up.
After the 2nd 880, I started finding the same thing. I decided that my target HR during the 880 would be 170, or 85% of my max heartrate. Since I was able to do the mile repeats at 165, I figured I could ramp it up a little further, given that these repeats were half the distance. The first interval I started out too fast (typical) - but I definately found that during the 2 minute rest phase (in which I kept jogging, albeit at a slow pace, as I didn't know whether the rest was to be a walk or not), my HR would come down to the 150-155 range - right about the range for the long run workouts.
Lap 1 - 4:30 Avg HR 143 (warmup 880)
Lap 2 - 3:14 Avg HR 171
Lap 3 - 3:37 Avg HR 170
Lap 4 - 3:47 Avg HR 168
Lap 5 - 3:51 Avg HR 167
Lap 6 - 3:46 Avg HR 166
Lap 7 - 3:39 Avg HR 168
Total Time (excluding warmup and rest): 21:54
Total Distance (excluding warmup and rest): 3 Miles
So I definately tailed off, time wise, a little bit as the workout went on - but I suppose that is to be expected. I found that during the latter repeats, the first 440 was just getting the HR back up to 170, while the second 440 was more sustained at 170. So the average tended to be lower than 170.
Heart rate and training zones
This isn't a typical post for this blog, but I wanted a referencable place for me to record down some things RE: heartrate and training zones. Perhaps some others will find it useful as well.
The formula I am currently using is called the Karvonen formula, which is fairly widely accepted, given that each person varies quite a bit and no formula is perfect. I like it better than the traditional formula (220-age) because the traditional one is not realistic, for many reasons. For example, someone my age looking to exercise in the moderate training zone (75%) would be going for a HR of around 141. That is unrealistically low.
So, the Karvonen formula is: ((MHR - RHR) x % intensity) + RHR = Training Zone
Where:
MHR = maximum heart rate (I use 220-age for now)
RHR = resting heart rate
% intensity = desired level of activity (0.6 for 60%, 0.7 for 70%, etc)
The accepted ranges and intensity levels are somewhere near the following:
60% - very light cardio; fewer overall calories, but higher % of fat calories
70% - moderate aerobic
80% - heavy aerobic/interval training
90% - intense (anaerobic); most overall calories, lowest % of fat calories
Although I'm not positive, I believe that the % intensity is not a gauge of fitness level. This confused me for a long time - because many times, it is depicted as such. Beyond that, fitness level is entirely subjective. Rather, % intensity is a gauge of the type of workout you are looking for at the time. Some days, such as long runs, the goal is a lower range; some days, such as when doing speed work, the goal is to extend into the higher range.
So, using the formula above, my numbers turn out to be (32 years old, RHR of 52):
60% - 133
65% - 140
70% - 147
75% - 154
80% - 160
85% - 167
90% - 174
95% - 181
100% - 188
That seems reasonable to me - as I know I can go for long periods of time at a HR of 150 or so, which puts me into the moderate aerobic (definately enough to sweat, but not so much that I wouldn't be able to talk). Also, I know that my endurance plummets when I get into the 170's, which puts me well into the heavy aerobic and even the anaerobic zone.
Also, I recently came across a blog post on triathlontrainingblog.com, where the blogger posted an email exchange between herself and someone who commented on what they were calling 'The Grey Zone'. I normally take 3rd party, unproven data and advice with a heavy grain of salt, but this made a lot of sense, and the person really seemed to know what they were talking about.
In short, the grey zone is too fast for recovery, but too slow for a key run (tempo, interval, etc) - pretty much that 75-80% training zone from above. So if all I did was run at a target HR of 160, I'd be in the grey zone. It's that pace that just feels right because it makes you feel like you worked hard, but not so hard to debilitate you for the rest of the day. The end result is that you do workout after workout, with relatively little performance gain.
That would be why training plans alternate long slow runs with shorter faster runs.
Addendum (9/14): More information on terms, and their explanations.
http://www.heartmonitors.com/exercisetips/heart_rate_basics.htm
Addendum (9/17): (Requires further verification):
60-80% max HR = 1 to 2 min/mile slower than 10k pace
80-90% max HR = 10 to 20 sec/mile slower than 10k pace
95-100% max HR = 3-5K pace
100% max HR = faster then 3-5k pace
Addendum (10/31): Magic Mile Times
10/31/08 - 7:01 Avg HR 179
4/4/09 - 7:25 Avg HR 175
7/3/09 - 7:25 Avg HR 176
The formula I am currently using is called the Karvonen formula, which is fairly widely accepted, given that each person varies quite a bit and no formula is perfect. I like it better than the traditional formula (220-age) because the traditional one is not realistic, for many reasons. For example, someone my age looking to exercise in the moderate training zone (75%) would be going for a HR of around 141. That is unrealistically low.
So, the Karvonen formula is: ((MHR - RHR) x % intensity) + RHR = Training Zone
Where:
MHR = maximum heart rate (I use 220-age for now)
RHR = resting heart rate
% intensity = desired level of activity (0.6 for 60%, 0.7 for 70%, etc)
The accepted ranges and intensity levels are somewhere near the following:
60% - very light cardio; fewer overall calories, but higher % of fat calories
70% - moderate aerobic
80% - heavy aerobic/interval training
90% - intense (anaerobic); most overall calories, lowest % of fat calories
Although I'm not positive, I believe that the % intensity is not a gauge of fitness level. This confused me for a long time - because many times, it is depicted as such. Beyond that, fitness level is entirely subjective. Rather, % intensity is a gauge of the type of workout you are looking for at the time. Some days, such as long runs, the goal is a lower range; some days, such as when doing speed work, the goal is to extend into the higher range.
So, using the formula above, my numbers turn out to be (32 years old, RHR of 52):
60% - 133
65% - 140
70% - 147
75% - 154
80% - 160
85% - 167
90% - 174
95% - 181
100% - 188
That seems reasonable to me - as I know I can go for long periods of time at a HR of 150 or so, which puts me into the moderate aerobic (definately enough to sweat, but not so much that I wouldn't be able to talk). Also, I know that my endurance plummets when I get into the 170's, which puts me well into the heavy aerobic and even the anaerobic zone.
Also, I recently came across a blog post on triathlontrainingblog.com, where the blogger posted an email exchange between herself and someone who commented on what they were calling 'The Grey Zone'. I normally take 3rd party, unproven data and advice with a heavy grain of salt, but this made a lot of sense, and the person really seemed to know what they were talking about.
In short, the grey zone is too fast for recovery, but too slow for a key run (tempo, interval, etc) - pretty much that 75-80% training zone from above. So if all I did was run at a target HR of 160, I'd be in the grey zone. It's that pace that just feels right because it makes you feel like you worked hard, but not so hard to debilitate you for the rest of the day. The end result is that you do workout after workout, with relatively little performance gain.
That would be why training plans alternate long slow runs with shorter faster runs.
Addendum (9/14): More information on terms, and their explanations.
http://www.heartmonitors.com/exercisetips/heart_rate_basics.htm
Addendum (9/17): (Requires further verification):
60-80% max HR = 1 to 2 min/mile slower than 10k pace
80-90% max HR = 10 to 20 sec/mile slower than 10k pace
95-100% max HR = 3-5K pace
100% max HR = faster then 3-5k pace
Addendum (10/31): Magic Mile Times
10/31/08 - 7:01 Avg HR 179
4/4/09 - 7:25 Avg HR 175
7/3/09 - 7:25 Avg HR 176
Monday, September 8, 2008
Long run - 9/8
As I mentioned earlier, this weeks long run was supposed to be 7 miles - but due to not completing the full 9 miles from last week, I made this week the 9 miler.
The nice thing about these long runs is that they are actually easy. They can be a mental challenge if you bore quickly, but for the most part, you just kinda put your body on autopilot and let your mind wander for about an hour and a half.
I've found that the ability to let your brain think of nothing in particular for extended periods of time is a gift - a talent, if you will. Not everyone has it. Laurie gets bored after about 5-10 minutes of an activity, and just doesn't understand what I mean when I tell her that my mind just wanders when doing something monotonous. The closest I can come to describing it is brain oxygen deprivation-caused ADD, where the most mundane things are just interesting enough to take your mind off running.
Not having a previously mapped 9 mile course, I combined two loops I do - one being a 5.25 mile course that is very flat, followed by a 3.4 mile loop that is about as hilly as one can get in this area. Going from the end point of the first loop back to the start point of the 3.4 mile loop made up the remaining .35 miles.
Total distance: 9 miles
Total time: 1:36:39
avg HR: 149
I did notice after about 2 miles that I was able to keep my HR down below 150 much easier than previous long runs, while still being able to keep the 10:30 pace or so. It may have been due to today's conditions being a bit cooler - I started around 6:20 pm or so, and ended around 8 pm. That gave me good daylight (but not direct sunlight, which is hotter) for the first 5 miles or so, but the last few miles it definately got dark, and therefore it was much cooler.
I also started feeling my hip tighten up after about 6 miles or so. It was not bad at all, but it reminded me that I should stretch a little more frequently - so far I've done no stretching at all.
The nice thing about these long runs is that they are actually easy. They can be a mental challenge if you bore quickly, but for the most part, you just kinda put your body on autopilot and let your mind wander for about an hour and a half.
I've found that the ability to let your brain think of nothing in particular for extended periods of time is a gift - a talent, if you will. Not everyone has it. Laurie gets bored after about 5-10 minutes of an activity, and just doesn't understand what I mean when I tell her that my mind just wanders when doing something monotonous. The closest I can come to describing it is brain oxygen deprivation-caused ADD, where the most mundane things are just interesting enough to take your mind off running.
Not having a previously mapped 9 mile course, I combined two loops I do - one being a 5.25 mile course that is very flat, followed by a 3.4 mile loop that is about as hilly as one can get in this area. Going from the end point of the first loop back to the start point of the 3.4 mile loop made up the remaining .35 miles.
Total distance: 9 miles
Total time: 1:36:39
avg HR: 149
I did notice after about 2 miles that I was able to keep my HR down below 150 much easier than previous long runs, while still being able to keep the 10:30 pace or so. It may have been due to today's conditions being a bit cooler - I started around 6:20 pm or so, and ended around 8 pm. That gave me good daylight (but not direct sunlight, which is hotter) for the first 5 miles or so, but the last few miles it definately got dark, and therefore it was much cooler.
I also started feeling my hip tighten up after about 6 miles or so. It was not bad at all, but it reminded me that I should stretch a little more frequently - so far I've done no stretching at all.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
2nd day of running rest, 30 minutes of swimming - 9/7
Based on the schedule, today's workout was supposed to be a 3 mile run. However, I started feeling shin splints after Friday's run - I'm not sure whether it was because of the increased pace and the resultant increased force on the down step, or just due to the mileage. I think it is more the former - based on the timing of shin splints and knowing how my body reacts to over-exertion.
So, yesterday's rest day was well timed. Unfortunately, I still felt some minor shin splints in the morning, and although they improved throughout the day, I felt like having a second day of rest was probably a wise idea, especially with the long run coming up. Also, I wanted this weeks long run to be the 9 miles (instead of the planned 7 miles), as I didn't go the full 9 miles last week - and I really need to get the distance in for endurance build up. Add in the fact that I had a long day of yard work, putting me on my feet most of the day to the point where they were sore - and it just seemed like the best move was forego the run for today.
However, this gave me the perfect excuse to try out my neighbors newly installed Endless Pool. For those who dont know what an Endless Pool is - it is basically the swimming equivalent of a treadmill. My neighbor bought one earlier this summer, and being the generous person she is, she offered use of it to Laurie and I. It took me a while to realize it, but it occured to me a few weeks ago that having a neighbor with an Endless Pool is just too good an opportunity (one in a million) to pass up.
I've tried using pools belonging to gyms before, and its always a major pain in the ass. First of all, the times that the pool is available for lap swimming is very restricted. Second, you never know whether there will be too many people to even get a lane. Third, even if you get a lane, half the time you end up stuck behind a slowpoke and can't get the right workout for yourself. Fourth, the amount of time to go to the facility, do the workout and come back means that you cannot do anything else that night. With all those negatives - it starts becoming clear just how amazing an opportunity having a neighbor with an Endless Pool is, where you are free to use it just about whenever you want.
So today I just wanted to grease the works for swimming, as I haven't done any real swimming in about 6 years. I shot for 30 minutes, breaks included - but due to having to fidget around with the HR monitor strap, and just getting acquainted with things, some time was lost - but getting about 18 minutes of actual workout in was enough to get started. The laps below aren't a specific distance - I just swam until I either needed a break (the first couple) or decided it had been enough time, and I should probably take a break (the last few).
Lap 1 0:01:47 140
Lap 2 0:02:18 120
Lap 3 0:03:03 144
Lap 4 0:04:00 148
Lap 5 0:05:49 143
Lap 6 0:01:21 132
Power Setting - about 40 (?)
I'm not sure what happened on lap 2 - perhaps the HR monitor slipped. I found I had to tighten it quite a bit, as it tended to slide down my torso a lot easier in a pool than when jogging or riding a bicycle.
I definately noticed while swimming that the latter sessions were much easier. I was probably starting to remember how to swim more efficiency (mechanically), and also just getting used to how an Endless Pool differs from normal swimming.
The power setting, which I *think* was about 40, is something I dont remember the units for. Similarly to how you can speed up a treadmill, you can make the Endless Pool go at different paces. But since today was more about getting started with using it, I'm not too concerned about remembering specifically what setting it was at.
So, yesterday's rest day was well timed. Unfortunately, I still felt some minor shin splints in the morning, and although they improved throughout the day, I felt like having a second day of rest was probably a wise idea, especially with the long run coming up. Also, I wanted this weeks long run to be the 9 miles (instead of the planned 7 miles), as I didn't go the full 9 miles last week - and I really need to get the distance in for endurance build up. Add in the fact that I had a long day of yard work, putting me on my feet most of the day to the point where they were sore - and it just seemed like the best move was forego the run for today.
However, this gave me the perfect excuse to try out my neighbors newly installed Endless Pool. For those who dont know what an Endless Pool is - it is basically the swimming equivalent of a treadmill. My neighbor bought one earlier this summer, and being the generous person she is, she offered use of it to Laurie and I. It took me a while to realize it, but it occured to me a few weeks ago that having a neighbor with an Endless Pool is just too good an opportunity (one in a million) to pass up.
I've tried using pools belonging to gyms before, and its always a major pain in the ass. First of all, the times that the pool is available for lap swimming is very restricted. Second, you never know whether there will be too many people to even get a lane. Third, even if you get a lane, half the time you end up stuck behind a slowpoke and can't get the right workout for yourself. Fourth, the amount of time to go to the facility, do the workout and come back means that you cannot do anything else that night. With all those negatives - it starts becoming clear just how amazing an opportunity having a neighbor with an Endless Pool is, where you are free to use it just about whenever you want.
So today I just wanted to grease the works for swimming, as I haven't done any real swimming in about 6 years. I shot for 30 minutes, breaks included - but due to having to fidget around with the HR monitor strap, and just getting acquainted with things, some time was lost - but getting about 18 minutes of actual workout in was enough to get started. The laps below aren't a specific distance - I just swam until I either needed a break (the first couple) or decided it had been enough time, and I should probably take a break (the last few).
Lap 1 0:01:47 140
Lap 2 0:02:18 120
Lap 3 0:03:03 144
Lap 4 0:04:00 148
Lap 5 0:05:49 143
Lap 6 0:01:21 132
Power Setting - about 40 (?)
I'm not sure what happened on lap 2 - perhaps the HR monitor slipped. I found I had to tighten it quite a bit, as it tended to slide down my torso a lot easier in a pool than when jogging or riding a bicycle.
I definately noticed while swimming that the latter sessions were much easier. I was probably starting to remember how to swim more efficiency (mechanically), and also just getting used to how an Endless Pool differs from normal swimming.
The power setting, which I *think* was about 40, is something I dont remember the units for. Similarly to how you can speed up a treadmill, you can make the Endless Pool go at different paces. But since today was more about getting started with using it, I'm not too concerned about remembering specifically what setting it was at.
Friday, September 5, 2008
5 Miles - 9/5
My original intent was to try and keep a HR of about 155 during todays run. With it being 5 miles, the 5-7 minute buildup to exercise HR affects the end result a bit less than yesterdays 3 mile run. The reason I wanted to go with 155 was that when I have a target HR of 150 or so, my pace ends up being in the 9:30 to 10:30 per mile range. I was curious to see whether 155 would put me right around 9:00 per mile.
Unfortunately - today - not so much. Until the last mile and a half or so, I did a pretty good job of keeping the rate between 155-160, and I could tell that in order for me to keep it right around 155, I'd definately be going slower the 9:00 per mile. So the latter part of the run I decided to make it a tempo run, like yesterday, except that I would maintain the speed I was doing - which I estimated to be around 9:30-9:40 or so. I decided to do this regardless of the HR. Partly because I just felt like doing a tempo run, and partly because it was getting dark enough out that I was having trouble seeing the display ont he HR monitor (no backlight).
Total time - 49:42
Total distance - 5.25 miles
Avg HR - 157
So while the average HR for the entire run was in the proper range, it was once again a case where the first portion of the run is on the low side, and the last part is on the high side. And the overall pace was 9:28 - right around where I suspected it might be
Unfortunately - today - not so much. Until the last mile and a half or so, I did a pretty good job of keeping the rate between 155-160, and I could tell that in order for me to keep it right around 155, I'd definately be going slower the 9:00 per mile. So the latter part of the run I decided to make it a tempo run, like yesterday, except that I would maintain the speed I was doing - which I estimated to be around 9:30-9:40 or so. I decided to do this regardless of the HR. Partly because I just felt like doing a tempo run, and partly because it was getting dark enough out that I was having trouble seeing the display ont he HR monitor (no backlight).
Total time - 49:42
Total distance - 5.25 miles
Avg HR - 157
So while the average HR for the entire run was in the proper range, it was once again a case where the first portion of the run is on the low side, and the last part is on the high side. And the overall pace was 9:28 - right around where I suspected it might be
Thursday, September 4, 2008
3 Miles - 9/4
Today's run was a simple 3 miles. Last week, my run after the day of speedwork was surprisingly difficult, and my legs never felt quite right. Today was much better. Encouraged by yesterdays result, and somewhat curious as to whether I could keep up an 8 minute pace for longer then 1 mile, I decided to try and to the whole run a bit faster then scheduled. Rather than 1-2 minutes per mile slower then a race pace, I decided to try and aim for a HR of about 165, and see how I felt if I kept that sustained for the 3 miles. This is the idea behind a tempo run.
Overall it went pretty well - I was passing mental checkpoints more quickly then I normally do, and I felt pretty strong throughout the whole run. However, without a dedicated 5-7 minutes of warmup, the short 3 mile run is heavily skewed in average HR, as it takes that 5-7 minutes to get things really going. So while I did my best to keep an average of 160-165 throughout the run (with the first mile getting to the lower part of that range, the second mile being pretty consistently within that range, and the last mile spending more time in the 163-168 range), when I finished up and looked at the results, I was a little disappointed to find out that my average HR was lower then I was looking for.
Total time - 26:16
Total distance - 3.04 miles
Avg HR - 158
That gives me an average pace of 8:38 per mile. At this point, although I felt strong throughout the entire run, I'm a little doubtful I could keep that pace up for an entire half marathon. With my secondary goal of finishing in 2 hours requiring a 9 min/mile pace, it is currently looking like there is a very good chance I'll come up a bit short.
However, there are a few things that give hope:
- I still have over 5 weeks to train.
- Race day is right after a day of rest, or at most a very easy run that serves only to keep the wheels greased.
- I have found that a small reduction in HR can make a big difference in endurance. You only have to notice that a HR of 150 gives me the endurance for the long runs, while a HR of 170 can only be sustained for relatively short periods of time. So trying to average around 155 may be a good compromise.
- Todays conditions were a bit on the humid side, which I've found always drives the HR up a bit.
- I may be better off starting slowly, to give my body time to begin burning stored fuel before the immediately available glucose in the blood supply is depleted. At that point, the body may be constantly trying to catch up with itself.
Overall it went pretty well - I was passing mental checkpoints more quickly then I normally do, and I felt pretty strong throughout the whole run. However, without a dedicated 5-7 minutes of warmup, the short 3 mile run is heavily skewed in average HR, as it takes that 5-7 minutes to get things really going. So while I did my best to keep an average of 160-165 throughout the run (with the first mile getting to the lower part of that range, the second mile being pretty consistently within that range, and the last mile spending more time in the 163-168 range), when I finished up and looked at the results, I was a little disappointed to find out that my average HR was lower then I was looking for.
Total time - 26:16
Total distance - 3.04 miles
Avg HR - 158
That gives me an average pace of 8:38 per mile. At this point, although I felt strong throughout the entire run, I'm a little doubtful I could keep that pace up for an entire half marathon. With my secondary goal of finishing in 2 hours requiring a 9 min/mile pace, it is currently looking like there is a very good chance I'll come up a bit short.
However, there are a few things that give hope:
- I still have over 5 weeks to train.
- Race day is right after a day of rest, or at most a very easy run that serves only to keep the wheels greased.
- I have found that a small reduction in HR can make a big difference in endurance. You only have to notice that a HR of 150 gives me the endurance for the long runs, while a HR of 170 can only be sustained for relatively short periods of time. So trying to average around 155 may be a good compromise.
- Todays conditions were a bit on the humid side, which I've found always drives the HR up a bit.
- I may be better off starting slowly, to give my body time to begin burning stored fuel before the immediately available glucose in the blood supply is depleted. At that point, the body may be constantly trying to catch up with itself.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Mile repeats - 9/3
It was with much dread today, after the pain and suffering of last weeks mile repeats, that I reluctantly went ahead with the training schedule and did three more mile repeats today.
I changed it up a bit today though - last week I'd finish the 1.1 mile loop and continue jogging around the loop, making my checkpoint where ever I was that my heart rate settled down to 150. Today I started each loop at the house and at the end of the loop I just jogged in circles in the road until my HR came down. This way each mile was equivalent to the last - the first 1/4 mile being a gradual but noticable downhill, the next half mile being barely downhill to flat, and the last 1/4 mile being uphill. Although there is something to be said for keeping things randomoized (look up what a fartlek is), this time I wanted something more consistent.
Also, today I went for an average HR during the repeats of 165, rather than 170. Mostly because I felt, after last weeks trying to average 170, that 165 is more of an appropriate HR range for a 5-10k, which is the pace these mile repeats are supposed to be at, according to the training plan I'm following.
Warm up - 9:44 avg HR 126
Mile 1 Repeat - 8:25 1.1 Miles avg HR 162
Rest down to HR of 150 - 1:40
Mile 2 Repeat - 9:07 1.1 Miles avg HR 166
Rest down to HR of 150 - 1:05
Mile 3 Repeat - 9:08 1.1 Miles avg HR 166
A couple things jumped out at me when I was crunching the numbers:
- the pace of the mile repeats was significantly faster than last weeks pace! Perhaps the long runs and piling on of mileage helps speed more then I thought. Perhaps going with 165 vs 170 gave me the reserve energy to charge up the hills a bit faster. Perhaps it is just evidence that last weeks speed work was effective.
- the recovery time to get my HR down to 150 was noticably faster as well. I'd attribute this mostly to better overall aerobic capacity, especially after this past Monday's workout(s) - but I'm not positive.
- As each loop was actually 1.1 miles - that gives me an average pace of 8:01 per mile! The last time I came anywhere CLOSE to that pace was way back in April 2006 (yes, I've been tracking every run I've gone on since then), when I went for a run just to see how fast I could do 2 miles. My pace was 8:06 per mile, and my average HR was 176! Granted that was all in one shot where this was split up - but still.
I changed it up a bit today though - last week I'd finish the 1.1 mile loop and continue jogging around the loop, making my checkpoint where ever I was that my heart rate settled down to 150. Today I started each loop at the house and at the end of the loop I just jogged in circles in the road until my HR came down. This way each mile was equivalent to the last - the first 1/4 mile being a gradual but noticable downhill, the next half mile being barely downhill to flat, and the last 1/4 mile being uphill. Although there is something to be said for keeping things randomoized (look up what a fartlek is), this time I wanted something more consistent.
Also, today I went for an average HR during the repeats of 165, rather than 170. Mostly because I felt, after last weeks trying to average 170, that 165 is more of an appropriate HR range for a 5-10k, which is the pace these mile repeats are supposed to be at, according to the training plan I'm following.
Warm up - 9:44 avg HR 126
Mile 1 Repeat - 8:25 1.1 Miles avg HR 162
Rest down to HR of 150 - 1:40
Mile 2 Repeat - 9:07 1.1 Miles avg HR 166
Rest down to HR of 150 - 1:05
Mile 3 Repeat - 9:08 1.1 Miles avg HR 166
A couple things jumped out at me when I was crunching the numbers:
- the pace of the mile repeats was significantly faster than last weeks pace! Perhaps the long runs and piling on of mileage helps speed more then I thought. Perhaps going with 165 vs 170 gave me the reserve energy to charge up the hills a bit faster. Perhaps it is just evidence that last weeks speed work was effective.
- the recovery time to get my HR down to 150 was noticably faster as well. I'd attribute this mostly to better overall aerobic capacity, especially after this past Monday's workout(s) - but I'm not positive.
- As each loop was actually 1.1 miles - that gives me an average pace of 8:01 per mile! The last time I came anywhere CLOSE to that pace was way back in April 2006 (yes, I've been tracking every run I've gone on since then), when I went for a run just to see how fast I could do 2 miles. My pace was 8:06 per mile, and my average HR was 176! Granted that was all in one shot where this was split up - but still.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Just another masochistic Monday - 9/1
Today's run, based on the schedule, was a 9 miler. Similar to last weeks 7 miler, the purpose was basically to pound pavement for an extended period of time to build up endurance.
But just for fun, I threw in a 50 mile long bike ride. I felt like I owed something to the person who gave me the bike, and we agreed a few weeks ago that we'd go for a ride sometime. Last week I got word through Laurie that he was probably going to be doing the Wachusett Reservoir loop - which is 20 miles around the reservoir itself, but you have to get there first. So around 1:30, we left and made our way up to the reservoir. Keep in mind that this is a guy who has been cycling for years, does the Pan-Mass challenge, and who does century rides quite often. Also keep in mind that when he gave me the bike and I started riding a mere two months ago, I hadn't ridden a bike in about 16 years.
It was an interesting ride. I started off with 2 x 24 oz bottles of gatorade, and I went through them in the first hour and 20 minutes or so. The funny thing was that my mouth was dry, so it was saying 'drink more fluids!', but my stomach was full. So the problem wasn't lack of consumption of water/liquid, but that I was just expending it faster than my system was able to absorb it. I think I was just working at a harder pace than I am used to, so I was sweating more than normal. After stopping for 20 minutes at a Cumberland Farms, I slowed down my pace and did much better throughout the rest of the ride.
So after three and a half hours of riding a bicycle, I got home, took about 20-30 minutes break, and took off on my 9 mile run. I definately went slower than normal (I purposely did the bicycle part first because of the fact that the 9 miler was purely endurance and not speed oriented), but I plodded along. The first 5.25 miles was a loop I do quite often. I took a 10 minute break in between to fill up my water bottle with gatorade, and tell Laurie that pizza could be ordered in about 15 minutes. The last portion of the run was at Callahan State Park up the street. I figured having the last few miles on dirt trail would probably be a good idea. As it turned out, I think I came a little short of the 9 miles, as I was starting to feel the ligament in front of my knee cap, and I felt something strain a little bit near my hip. Neither were painful - so I'm not too awful concerned - but I didn't want to push it. Besides - at that point I had been doing cardio work for 5 hours - I think I'm allowed to cut the 9 miler a little short :)
Bicycle part:
Leg 1: 1:17:54 avg HR 156
Leg 2: 20:00 avg HR 117 (rest)
Leg 3: 31:05 avg HR 148
Leg 4: 0:47 (stop @ restaurant and fill up water bottles)
Leg 5: 1:24:35 avg HR 145
Total cycling distance: 47.11 miles
Total cycling time: about 3 hrs 13 minutes
Avg HR (excluding rest): 149
It's interesting (and predictable to me, as I've been using a HR monitor for years) that the portion of the trip where I was over-exerting myself had the avg HR of 156, and the portions of the trip where I had much better endurance had an avg HR of around 145-150.
Jogging part:
Leg 1: 57:53 avg HR 154 Distance: 5.25 miles
Leg 2: 9:31 rest and refill water bottle
Leg 3: 23:59 avg HR 152 Distance: ~2 miles (assuming same 11 min/mile pace)
Total jogging distance: 7.25 miles
Total jogging time: 1:21:53
Avg HR (excluding rest): 153
Also interesting is that the HR stayed the same, but the pace slowed dramatically (obviously an effect of the fuel supply in the bloodstream having been pre-depleated).
Good thing tomorrow is a rest day.
But just for fun, I threw in a 50 mile long bike ride. I felt like I owed something to the person who gave me the bike, and we agreed a few weeks ago that we'd go for a ride sometime. Last week I got word through Laurie that he was probably going to be doing the Wachusett Reservoir loop - which is 20 miles around the reservoir itself, but you have to get there first. So around 1:30, we left and made our way up to the reservoir. Keep in mind that this is a guy who has been cycling for years, does the Pan-Mass challenge, and who does century rides quite often. Also keep in mind that when he gave me the bike and I started riding a mere two months ago, I hadn't ridden a bike in about 16 years.
It was an interesting ride. I started off with 2 x 24 oz bottles of gatorade, and I went through them in the first hour and 20 minutes or so. The funny thing was that my mouth was dry, so it was saying 'drink more fluids!', but my stomach was full. So the problem wasn't lack of consumption of water/liquid, but that I was just expending it faster than my system was able to absorb it. I think I was just working at a harder pace than I am used to, so I was sweating more than normal. After stopping for 20 minutes at a Cumberland Farms, I slowed down my pace and did much better throughout the rest of the ride.
So after three and a half hours of riding a bicycle, I got home, took about 20-30 minutes break, and took off on my 9 mile run. I definately went slower than normal (I purposely did the bicycle part first because of the fact that the 9 miler was purely endurance and not speed oriented), but I plodded along. The first 5.25 miles was a loop I do quite often. I took a 10 minute break in between to fill up my water bottle with gatorade, and tell Laurie that pizza could be ordered in about 15 minutes. The last portion of the run was at Callahan State Park up the street. I figured having the last few miles on dirt trail would probably be a good idea. As it turned out, I think I came a little short of the 9 miles, as I was starting to feel the ligament in front of my knee cap, and I felt something strain a little bit near my hip. Neither were painful - so I'm not too awful concerned - but I didn't want to push it. Besides - at that point I had been doing cardio work for 5 hours - I think I'm allowed to cut the 9 miler a little short :)
Bicycle part:
Leg 1: 1:17:54 avg HR 156
Leg 2: 20:00 avg HR 117 (rest)
Leg 3: 31:05 avg HR 148
Leg 4: 0:47 (stop @ restaurant and fill up water bottles)
Leg 5: 1:24:35 avg HR 145
Total cycling distance: 47.11 miles
Total cycling time: about 3 hrs 13 minutes
Avg HR (excluding rest): 149
It's interesting (and predictable to me, as I've been using a HR monitor for years) that the portion of the trip where I was over-exerting myself had the avg HR of 156, and the portions of the trip where I had much better endurance had an avg HR of around 145-150.
Jogging part:
Leg 1: 57:53 avg HR 154 Distance: 5.25 miles
Leg 2: 9:31 rest and refill water bottle
Leg 3: 23:59 avg HR 152 Distance: ~2 miles (assuming same 11 min/mile pace)
Total jogging distance: 7.25 miles
Total jogging time: 1:21:53
Avg HR (excluding rest): 153
Also interesting is that the HR stayed the same, but the pace slowed dramatically (obviously an effect of the fuel supply in the bloodstream having been pre-depleated).
Good thing tomorrow is a rest day.
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