This morning I ran my first tempo run. Well, first one on purpose anyway. I'm sure I've run hard before but not really in this structured format.
So, the Katy Fit schedule called for a 35 minute tempo run this morning. I'd rather run by distance so I decided, with Coach's approval, to do a 1 mile warmup/1 mile tempo/1 mile cooldown. Here are the stats and comments to follow:
Mile 1 - 16:16 (avg HR: 141)
Mile 2 - 13:30 (avg HR unknown, for some reason my monitor was malfunctioning
Mile 3 - 15:37 (avg HR: 159)
I had a hard time with my HR monitor during the tempo leg. That was actually, to me, a blessing. I kind of wanted to do this mile by feel and since my monitor wasn't working, I had to. I did record a max during mile 2 of 169 bpm. Coach told me that I should "be about as hard as you can go without going anerobic i.e., you should never be sucking wind but feel if you went any faster you would be (that's what the first 3/4 of a 10k feel like)." Well, I've never done a 10K so now I know what the first 3/4 will feel like. Anyway, I felt good, just like coach described. It was really challenging toward the end. Still not gasping for breath, I felt like I was going pretty hard. Certainly harder than any mile to date (since comeback). The last 1/4 mile, I just pictured the kids' faces and DW and how much I love them and how much I want to really live for and with them, and my spirit soared through that last effort. I was tempted to stop and walk to recover but didn't. I slowed down to my easy pace, and ran through the entire mile 3.
One other thing. I'm not sure if it was just mental or if it was just cooler or if I was particularly rested this morning but I really felt stronger on my feet this morning. I doubt it's possible that the hill workout on Tuesday and the rest day yesterday would have made such a difference but I really felt good, strong.
Ready for 6 on Saturday!!!
God bless!
5 comments:
Someone get a hose, Vic’s on FIRE!
Your progression is absolutely amazing!
Oh yeah, you nailed it. Some of that is defintely the rest day on Wednesday. It's fun to be in the thick part of the improvement curve where you can feel yourself getting stronger almost literally every day.
Steeeve
Nice, Vic.
By the way, do you feel like you're a slave to your HRM figures or is the HRM for your informational purposes only?
doug
Hey Vic,
The RSS feeder I use keeps having issues so I just saw your post. That run sounds perfect to me; the way he described your effort level describes my 85-90% of max heart rate perfectly. I know at 90% I'm anerobic.
Are you still meeting with the trainer? Whenever I go in for a fitness assessment, there are certain things they always check - weight, blood pressure, heart rate, etc. Personally, I think knowing what your resting heart rate, what your maximum heart rate and different zones are is all good information to know.
Heavens, if you were to ever have a problem and someone were to check your vitals at least you'd know whether the numbers they gave were high or low for you.
For example, the "guesstimate" of 220 minus your age would give me a max heart rate of 178. 178 is actually 90% of my personal max, not 100%. But I'd probably be freaking out and not running at the tempo I could actually achieve if I didn't know what my own personal stats were.
Likewise, as each of us becomes more fit, etc. our resting heart rate will generally go down. It's a great pick-me-up to see that number decrease.
The more information you have at hand, the better as far as I'm concerned.
Way to go Vic! A mile tempo this early in your training is remarkable. Keep it up!
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