I'm beginning to convince myself (although I already knew it in the back of my mind) that going slow initially is the key.
I first experienced this during the half marathon when we were forced to go at a 10:30-11 min/mile pace for the first mile to mile and a half. I was surprised how we were able to settle into a 9 minute mile pace at a nice HR of 150. I attributed it to race day adrenaline, cool weather, first activity of the day, and starting slowly. I may not have realized how much a factor starting slowly was.
On today's run, I finally found it in me not to submit to unconscious desires to pass the 1 mile mark at around 8:30 to 9 minutes. Part of it may have been some lingering fatigue from the bike ride - but whatever it was, by the time I reached the 2nd mile mark, I was doing around 10 min/miles and my HR was easily being maintained at around 150.
This is compared to other times that I try to go slow, and find myself fighting to keep my HR down after the 2nd or 3rd mile.
So on todays run, the miles kept going by, and the HR stayed right around 150. It'd creep up a bit on an uphill, but I was shocked how quickly it came right back down. It occured to me that I've heard before that it takes about 20 minutes for your body to start using fat as an energy source. Without going into the details on my thought process here, I am thinking that staying well within the aerobic zone during that first 20 minutes, until the body has started to convert fat into energy, has a huge impact on keeping your HR down and therefore keeping your body's exertion level from getting higher than desired. The end result was that even around mile 8-10, I was easily able to keep a HR of 150 or so, and I was actually able to speed up a little bit.
I also did take a couple breaks during the run. After about 45 minutes, I did a 2 minute walk break, and after another 15-20 minutes, I stretched for about 2 minutes. Towards the very end, on a section where there is a good sized hill, I ended up walking for about a minute after cresting the top of the hill. According to the Galloway plan, these long runs should have walk breaks in them - and since the point of these long runs is to build up aerobic capacity and not speed - I'm ok with it.
Total Distance: 10.7 miles
Total Time: 1:53:29
Avg HR: 147
1 comment:
Hello Ryan, I am a beginning runner and have taken on the challenge of the Marine Corp Marathon. I stumbled onto your blog looking for MM information. Thank you for your blog postings. The information is VERY helpful in navigating this new sport. There is no beginner Marathon training in Washington, DC that doesn't require a fundraising effort so the internet has become my best resource. So far I've been doing the Galloway program with relative success and no injury (knock wood). Your blog and my Garmin have combined to become my "coach". Very much appreciate your effort and look forward to your next posting.
Cheers, KL.
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