Winter runs, week of January 17th-23rd

[Grog]

Grog- I thought you were just coming back from injury and then I calculated your run in miles, guess you are back in the game!

I'd rather run in kilometers than miles, it feels like I'm running further.

Sounds like your weather would allow you to wear light running shorts. Go for it! It's so liberating.

[skhill]

In honor of MLK day, I ran the length of my city's MLK Boulevard this morning, both ways. I run and ride that road going south regularly, but not going north, and now I remember why: heading north, there's a really steep one-block long downhill, followed by nearly 5 blocks steady uphill. Yuck. In all, it was 3.5 miles, none of it flat...

It's less than 10 weeks till my first half-marathon! Woohoo!

[Susan Otcenas]

Treadmill workout for me today:

Warmup: 15:00
Mainset = 4 x 8:00 in zone 3 with 4:00 easy run between
cooldown: 10:00

My zone 3 intervals were all done at 6.0mi/hr, easy intervals at 5.2 to 5.5mi/hr. All in I covered just over 6.5 miles in 70 minutes. Avg HR 142, max 163.

Gym was empty this morning. I'm guessing that alot of people had the day off and slept in.

[Veronica]

I am always amazed by other people's heart rate numbers.

I did a 5.32 mile run yesterday with an average heart rate of 172. I like looking at how fast it drops though. I had to wait at a few lights yesterday and it dropped from 170 to 145 or so at each one.

Then there's the top of the hill where it maxed at 182!

Veronica

[GLC1968]

I am always amazed by other people's heart rate numbers.

Me too.

If I had your heart rate numbers, I'd be violently ill on the side of the road!

When I first started monitoring my HR and comparing my numbers to other people I knew, I thought there was something wrong with me. I could NOT get my HR to the levels that others were showing no matter how hard I worked! Now I know it's because I naturally just have a lower HR. I like to think it's because I have such a big heart.

[OakLeaf]

10.75 for me today. Life kind of got in the way of my long run, but I think that's enough to keep me going for now.

My HR has always been high. AHR for my two-mile tempo segment on Saturday was 173. In hot weather I can see a max of nearly 190. Not so bad for someone who's eligible for an AARP card. But it's been fun over the past couple of years, seeing how my AHR on my long runs has dropped as my aerobic fitness improves.

[Susan Otcenas]

I am always amazed by other people's heart rate numbers.

I did a 5.32 mile run yesterday with an average heart rate of 172. I like looking at how fast it drops though. I had to wait at a few lights yesterday and it dropped from 170 to 145 or so at each one.

Then there's the top of the hill where it maxed at 182!

Veronica

You might consider getting your VO2Max done. It's very instructive. I'm still very much in a learning stage about what it all means. My coach gives me very specific heart rate zones to work in for most of my training. Each workout has a different purpose, and therefore we target different zones in each.

It turns out that I have a very high VO2Max. BUT, at my AeT, I'm not working anywhere near my VO2Max. So, one of the things we're working on is training my body to move my AeT up so that I can to work (aerobically) closer to my potential. The good news is I have lots of room to improve.

[rocknrollgirl]

Hi All,
I ran about 6 on the trails yesterday with my DH. It is my hilly run. Although my legs were really tired from mt biking the day before, I ran this hills this week instead of walking.

It stared to rain about 5 mins in to the run 37 and raining...drizmal, is that what we are calling it now?

All in all a good run. My legs are pretty beat today, so i did 45 mins of core this morning.

[Veronica]

I had my VO2 max done on the bike a few years ago. I know that there are some differences, but my running HR seems very close to my cycling one. I can sustain 178 on a long 10 mile climb on the bike, but get over 180 for any length of time and I kinda wanna hurl. I find the same thing running. My max then was 185.

It's been a few years. It would be interesting to have it done again.

Veronica

[eclectic]

I am always amazed by other people's heart rate numbers.

I did a 5.32 mile run yesterday with an average heart rate of 172. I like looking at how fast it drops though. I had to wait at a few lights yesterday and it dropped from 170 to 145 or so at each one.

Then there's the top of the hill where it maxed at 182!

Veronica

I am glad to hear that - mine is really high too. I can talk 4-5 words easily when my HR is at 168

I have correlated my HR with RPE and I feel better about it.

[eclectic]

Haven't run this week (sick for 3 days) but I did break down and order the Jeff Galloway Gym boss interval timer. I tried for 6 months to find one locally and no go.

I will now have more freedom on the track or trail and not have to continually check my watch for time or be locked to the treadmill.

I have been doing 1 min walk at 3.8 and 1.5 min run at 5.2 to get back into it. I can do this for over 4 miles which I think is good for not running since last April and just starting again after Christmas.

I am excited to use the timer now and get on the track and go at a natural pace and see how far I go in the same length of time.

Weather here is ok to go outside but now it is way too icy and I am not going to risk it.

So that is what is happening here!

[Aggie_Ama]

My heart rate is really high too. I can talk in short sentences well into the 170's. Yesterday on my 7 mile run I average 178 with a max of 187. I thought it was because I am out of shape. I plan to get my VO2 tested before marathon training.

On a side note my mom is giving me my first pair of real running (not big box sports store) shoes for my birthday next month! I just have to figure out which of the many running stores in town I want to go to. I am stoked to finally get my gait analyzed and get the right shoes six weeks before the half mary.

[Jolt]

I am always amazed by other people's heart rate numbers.

I did a 5.32 mile run yesterday with an average heart rate of 172. I like looking at how fast it drops though. I had to wait at a few lights yesterday and it dropped from 170 to 145 or so at each one.

Then there's the top of the hill where it maxed at 182!

Veronica

If you think that's high...I haven't worn my HRM on a run in a while but I routinely run in the 170s to 180s. Max is 211 according to VO2max test I had a couple of years ago as part of a research study. Now, I'm only 26 but still--that's on the high side.

[GLC1968]

Did 2.5 miles on the treadmill last night. I got my new (and working!) HRM yesterday, so I finally got recent HR data for running. I did my last 12/18 run (run/walk) and as should be expected, I was in the watch defined zone 3 for 12 minutes. Avg HR was 139 with a peak at 165. My run interval averages were around 144. I need to read up on how to manually adjust the settings in the watch, but I did input my max HR and age before I started.

Anyway, way more exciting is that I tried something totally new last night! When I first started, I ran for 3 minutes barefoot. I did one minute at 4 mph, 1 min at 5 mph and 1 min at 6 mph...with NO foot pain. It was really fun and I found getting into the Chi Running technique extremely natural and easy without the shoes.

Then I did the 12/18 workout. Near the end (the last two walking intervals), my foot started to hurt in the usual spot. I thought maybe that it was from the barefoot experiement, so I tried another one. As soon as I hit 30 minutes, I kicked off my shoes and ran another two minutes barefoot. The pain disappeared immediately! I'm sold.

Today I'm going to buy some cheap insoles for my running shoes so that I can lose my orthotics. I threw away all the insoles for all my athletic shoes ages ago because I was told to ALWAYS wear my orthotics. I'll use my same running shoes minus the orthotics until I can condition my feet/legs to the barefoot thing (and for cold winter runs until I can get something else).

Oh, and today my lower legs are kind of achey and tired (like after a day of walking at an amusement park all day) but my feet feel great!

[indigoiis]

GLC - that's great! I went from the Podiatrist telling me I needed surgery to never looking back at shoe'd running. For winter I use my VFFs or scuba booties. And that all-day-amusement-park ache is just the muscles waking up. Your achilles will start to get used to the action and your calf muscles will strengthen. It's wonderful! Oh, and your feet get really strong, too!