Back to running, that is. After 11 days and one bout with a non-swine-flu cold (which I defeated with Manny Pacquiao power, but without the big pay-per-view deal), I finally laced up the shoes for the first time since the Country Music Marathon (despite my best efforts. Apparently I set my alarm for 6PM, but woke up on my own at 6:45am anyway. I imagine there was a subconscious fight to the death cage match between the part of me that wanted to run versus the part that wanted to continue being lazy and sleeping in. Running-me FTW!)
It was an “easy” 4 miles to get the legs moving again. Notice easy is in quotes? That’s not a typo. The weather was great (55*, cloudy, light fog) but my legs were tight, breathing was hard (I guess my lungs were beaten worse than Ricky Hatton by that non-swine-flu), and I almost got run down by two cyclists. Both times I could hear them coming up behind me (I pictured something like this), and then at the last second comes the fog horn (read: handlebar bell and polite “on your left”). Immediately after: WHOOSH! and they fly by, passing at light speed with reckless abandon. None too please… none. too. pleased.
I’m really looking forward to getting back into a groove, waking up too early to run in a circle, and then writing about it for pretty much only you to read. (Thanks for reading!) Next on the horizon is the Chicago Marathon in October, but training doesn’t start for a few weeks.
Also, as promised, I must mention that I fueled up for this run at a little Thai place called Thai Tanic… clever. Not to be confused with the horrible maritime disaster of 1912. But delcious!
And the details (deets, as the kids might say, always talking in abbrev’s):
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 34:27
Pace: 8:37 min/mile
Average Heart Rate: 150
What are some of the typical HR ranges you see at your training paces? Do you see an increase when fatigued or do you find it is harder to get it up? Cardiac drift on long runs? Just wondering how similar it is to cycling
This run was an easy run, and so I only averaged 150. It probably should have been lower, but I think I was working extra hard with some recovering legs and recovering lungs.
For the cardiac drift, on the last long run that I have with my HRM looks a little erratic. After my first mile, the average HR per mile ranges from 147 up to 163, based on hills. The 147 was my 15th mile at faster-than-average pace, but downhill.
I’m not sure it translates well from cycling to running. In my mind, it’s easier to remain consistent with cycling (like with cadence and power) compared to running where stride turnover and general stride length can change both with the course and with time. Basically I don’t have any good info on that.