Running Lights
Today I was struggling with the last workout of week #6. It is the dreaded Thursday 2 hour run w/60 minutes @ 150 HR. I was on the airport about 50 minutes into the 60 minutes up-tempo portion when the runway lights lit up around me. It gave me a little adrenaline boost at the thought of a plane about land on me. Needless to say, the last 10 minutes flew by.
No plane by the way - plus it was too foggy for landing planes so I'm at a loss...
Week #6 really took the training up into the 'difficult zone'. Level three with a Sunday long run netted 91 miles for the week. I will be staying right here until things quiet down. Eventually, I'd like to add some mileage to Wednesday and Friday (both easy pace days) but I want a few weeks of a steady program and good feedback. As you can see from the graph below, my "quality index" (a relative trending of time, HR, and pace) took off with the introduction of level three. I will try to get this graph trending level again before I add more miles.
Ignore the numbers as they are meaningless to everyone but me. Treated as a relative trend line, you can see the work load increased significantly with the introduction of level three and the standard Sunday long run. Seeing this graphically does not make me wish to shoot for 100 miles per week yet. I need to level out and get a good handle on the program.
On the injury / potential injury front I'm still clean. My bi-weekly massage therapy and keeping to the program with no 'fast' running seems to be keeping me above board. My toes hurt today though...
Here is what week 6 looked like:
Friday: 7.65 miles @ 7:50 pace. 135 HR
Sat: 12.77 miles @ 7:03 pace. 144 HR
Sun: 21 miles @ 8:17 pace. 137 HR
Mon: 10.39 miles @ 7:13 pace. 142 HR
Tues: 12.73 miles @ 7:04 pace. 148 HR
Wed: 9.65 miles @ 7:46 pace. 137 HR
Thurs: 16.96 miles @ 7:05 pace. 145 HR
Overall: 91.15 miles, averaging 7:30 pace @ 141 HR.
I am looking forward to tomorrow's 60 minute easy run.
The 150 HR is still too much work to consider moving to 155 for the Saturday and Tuesday workouts. Seeing how I am not even halfway through this training cycle, it is easy to be patient. I wonder how I ran at 164 HR for the Wineglass marathon? Seems incredible to me now. Hopefully, by October, I'll be up a couple of notches in the HR department. The program limits the HR increases until I can run 10 miles with "extreme ease" at 150bpm. I can run the 10 miles, and easily finish, but I wouldn't say it's actually easy. Now 142 HR, that's easy!
I will be very glad when I can run at 150 as well as I feel at 140 or even 145. I think 145 must be my "sweet spot" right now. Just about any time I run around this HR, I feel really relaxed. Just a few beats faster, and I need to focus on what I'm doing otherwise the HR drops back down to 145.
No plane by the way - plus it was too foggy for landing planes so I'm at a loss...
Week #6 really took the training up into the 'difficult zone'. Level three with a Sunday long run netted 91 miles for the week. I will be staying right here until things quiet down. Eventually, I'd like to add some mileage to Wednesday and Friday (both easy pace days) but I want a few weeks of a steady program and good feedback. As you can see from the graph below, my "quality index" (a relative trending of time, HR, and pace) took off with the introduction of level three. I will try to get this graph trending level again before I add more miles.
Ignore the numbers as they are meaningless to everyone but me. Treated as a relative trend line, you can see the work load increased significantly with the introduction of level three and the standard Sunday long run. Seeing this graphically does not make me wish to shoot for 100 miles per week yet. I need to level out and get a good handle on the program.
On the injury / potential injury front I'm still clean. My bi-weekly massage therapy and keeping to the program with no 'fast' running seems to be keeping me above board. My toes hurt today though...
Here is what week 6 looked like:
Friday: 7.65 miles @ 7:50 pace. 135 HR
Sat: 12.77 miles @ 7:03 pace. 144 HR
Sun: 21 miles @ 8:17 pace. 137 HR
Mon: 10.39 miles @ 7:13 pace. 142 HR
Tues: 12.73 miles @ 7:04 pace. 148 HR
Wed: 9.65 miles @ 7:46 pace. 137 HR
Thurs: 16.96 miles @ 7:05 pace. 145 HR
Overall: 91.15 miles, averaging 7:30 pace @ 141 HR.
I am looking forward to tomorrow's 60 minute easy run.
The 150 HR is still too much work to consider moving to 155 for the Saturday and Tuesday workouts. Seeing how I am not even halfway through this training cycle, it is easy to be patient. I wonder how I ran at 164 HR for the Wineglass marathon? Seems incredible to me now. Hopefully, by October, I'll be up a couple of notches in the HR department. The program limits the HR increases until I can run 10 miles with "extreme ease" at 150bpm. I can run the 10 miles, and easily finish, but I wouldn't say it's actually easy. Now 142 HR, that's easy!
I will be very glad when I can run at 150 as well as I feel at 140 or even 145. I think 145 must be my "sweet spot" right now. Just about any time I run around this HR, I feel really relaxed. Just a few beats faster, and I need to focus on what I'm doing otherwise the HR drops back down to 145.
posted by Andrew at 8:02 PM
6 Comments:
Andrew: Thanks for your recent comments on my blog.
Your HR stats amaze me... e.g...
"Thurs: 16.96 miles @ 7:05 pace. 145 HR"
This is inspiring. I agree with 145 as a sweet spot, but my fastest pace is probably about 7:35-40 in cool weather hold at 145. Guess I gotta keep building.... by the way, none of my biz, but do you have a day job with 96 miles??
I think you were zooming by so fast they mistook you for an aeroplane and switched on the lights for your benefit. Or maybe they thought you were going to take off any second now at your pace.
I'm glad you've noticed that the extra distance and quality are possible danger signs. Perhaps the runway lights was another signal to slow down?
Interested in an 'easy' 3hr trot this Sunday (no funny business)?
What is your max HR?
And would you mind posting your results from your first Hadd test?
Sorry if you already have somewhere, I couldn't find them.
"Easy to be patient"?
Who are you and what have you done with our Andrew?
Seriously though, I imagine 150 will start feeling easier in time, and I'm glad to see you sticking with the long-view. Good progress so far.
Inspiring!
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