Yesterday, I was thinking I'd do about 4 today. Then, when I got home from work, I was feeling good enough that I wanted to do 6. However, I had replaced the battery in my HR monitor chest strap last night and the wrist unit was not picking up the signal anymore. So I ended up mucking around with that for 20 minutes or so before getting it to work, and by that time the sun was already close to setting. I headed out the door thinking I'd do 6, but after a mile or so decided to do my normal 5 mile loop instead because it has sidewalks the entire way.
However, once again I started out and the HR monitor was acting up again - bouncing all over the place from 140 to 180 (typically in the 160 zone, though), and I knew I wasn't pushing it that much. Then it occurred to me - the last few runs, where it has acted up - I've been wearing the same tech shirt, which is different from the one I've been running in all winter. All winter I've been using the long sleeve one from the Patriot half, and I recently switched to the short sleeve one I got from the Worcester Half last June. When I was looking up troubleshooting the HR monitor, I came across a page that indicated that tech shirts are susceptible to static electricity and can mess with HR monitor readings until the static can dissipate (ie, enough sweat has gotten onto the shirt). So I think that is the problem - and it makes sense because in the past three runs, I've found it has taken a solid 14-16 minutes for the HR to settle down in accordance with what I'd expect with the RPE I was estimating.
So this run leaves me with about 2 to do tomorrow, and then 10 on Saturday to complete a 33 mile week.
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