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FrogMan · 07-10-2014, 11:17 AM

rough start to yesterday's easy run. Sure, only my regular midweek easy 4 miler, well a 7 km in my books but it's just a bit over 4 miles so you know. I'd had a kinda rough night, woke up 2-3 times, bathroom then the wind blowing hard and making the blinds hit the windowsill, you know. Didn't really have any problems getting up when the alarm clock went off but I felt slow and zombielike in everything I was doing. Then got to reading the paper and just didn't feel like going out to run. I really had to force myself to get out the door.

Then once out the door, legs felt very heavy. I just about turned back at the first half km mark I so didn't care about running today. But I'm not that kind of guy so I didn't and i kept on going. I ran loose, only sparingly looking at my watch to keep my HR at or under 125 BPM. I found myself amused and surprised by the kind of pace I was able to sustain at 125 BPM. I regularly was running at 5:05/km or so and would make the HR jump up a bit by going at 4:50, then as soon as I slowed down my steps to 5:20, the HR would drop down in the 121-123 range. Overall today, 7.12 km in 36:45 for an average pace of 5:10/km (8:18/mile).

I was pretty sure that was the fastest I'd run any of those 7 km easy run since I started going with the 125 BPM max "rule" and sure enough, looking back, it is.

I started training this way after my 10k on june 1st and have done 5 of those 7 km easy runs so far. Here are my average pace for each:
June 4, 05:31/km (08:52/mile), average HR 122
June 11, 05:24 (08:41), 121
June 18, 05:22 (08:38), 121
June 25, 05:19 (08:33), 123
July 9, 05:10 (08:18), 121

The constant progression is very interesting. Even during those so called "easy" runs, if you keep as many of the outside parameters as constant as possible, you can see improvements. All these runs started at about the same time (between 5:28 and 5:32 am) and are all between 7.05 and 7.43 km in distance and their average HR stayed between 121 and 123. If you pay good attention to your numbers, you don't really need to set new PRs at every race to see improvements in your fitness level...

FM

07-10-2014, 11:17 AM	#132
FrogMan Hattrick Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada	rough start to yesterday's easy run. Sure, only my regular midweek easy 4 miler, well a 7 km in my books but it's just a bit over 4 miles so you know. I'd had a kinda rough night, woke up 2-3 times, bathroom then the wind blowing hard and making the blinds hit the windowsill, you know. Didn't really have any problems getting up when the alarm clock went off but I felt slow and zombielike in everything I was doing. Then got to reading the paper and just didn't feel like going out to run. I really had to force myself to get out the door. Then once out the door, legs felt very heavy. I just about turned back at the first half km mark I so didn't care about running today. But I'm not that kind of guy so I didn't and i kept on going. I ran loose, only sparingly looking at my watch to keep my HR at or under 125 BPM. I found myself amused and surprised by the kind of pace I was able to sustain at 125 BPM. I regularly was running at 5:05/km or so and would make the HR jump up a bit by going at 4:50, then as soon as I slowed down my steps to 5:20, the HR would drop down in the 121-123 range. Overall today, 7.12 km in 36:45 for an average pace of 5:10/km (8:18/mile). I was pretty sure that was the fastest I'd run any of those 7 km easy run since I started going with the 125 BPM max "rule" and sure enough, looking back, it is. I started training this way after my 10k on june 1st and have done 5 of those 7 km easy runs so far. Here are my average pace for each: June 4, 05:31/km (08:52/mile), average HR 122 June 11, 05:24 (08:41), 121 June 18, 05:22 (08:38), 121 June 25, 05:19 (08:33), 123 July 9, 05:10 (08:18), 121 The constant progression is very interesting. Even during those so called "easy" runs, if you keep as many of the outside parameters as constant as possible, you can see improvements. All these runs started at about the same time (between 5:28 and 5:32 am) and are all between 7.05 and 7.43 km in distance and their average HR stayed between 121 and 123. If you pay good attention to your numbers, you don't really need to set new PRs at every race to see improvements in your fitness level... FM __________________ A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog...