Monday I woke up and had a pain in my quad. It wasn't a normal tight muscle but felt like it was pulled. I decided no speed work and let it rest. My PT fixed it up that afternoon which is good.
On Friday I ran the same loop and found the stats very interesting. The difference between the two were only .01 mile less and 39 seconds slower. The heat and humidity were about the same between the two, but I found myself in Zone 4 for 54%, which is the complete opposite from Wednesday. I know I walked a lot more as well.
My long run got pushed to Sunday. While the training team does have a Sunday group, I chose to run on my own. I didn't wan the pressure of running faster when I know I would be very slow. I didn't want to get all caught up and start running when my HR was higher. I also was a little excited to run my favorite 10 mile loop (with an easy 4 mile loop after). The run was good and over cast, and when I started the 4 mile loop, things started to get hard. The sun started to come out from the clouds and I was just tired at that point. It was interesting that my heart rate was very high during the last four miles at the same time as my legs were getting real tired. My hip really started to bother me at that point too, which meant that I had a nice tight knot in my glute (PT on Monday can't come soon enough). I found myself in Zone 4 for 43% and my average heart rate at 150, the best of the three runs.
This is my base week. It looks like I'm 1 1/2 minutes slower then my average runs have been going. I want to give myself 2 weeks to see if my speed comes back up while lowering my heart rate. While I'm not in the targeted heart rate zone yet, I just wanted to take baby steps to improve. We will see how things go over the next few weeks.
Have you ever run based on your heart rate? Any success stories?
Is the purpose of Heart Rate training to keep your hear rate slow? I've heard about it, but never looked much into it.
ReplyDeleteI have not done any heart rate training.
Yes, you want your heart rate in a lower zone. From what I understand it, in the right zone, you will improve your ability for your heart to pump blood and improve the muscles' ability to utilize oxygen. And in turn run faster and have faster recoveries.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting, thanks for sharing! I'm a slow runner too and my HR is still generally high. It's one of the reasons I'm scared to try HR training because then I'd be even slower. But maybe that's what I need. I look forward to following along and seeing how this goes for you :)
ReplyDeleteThat is the one thing I'm terrified of. We will see if there are any results in a couple weeks. Thanks for following along!
DeleteI love being able to compare training runs when, mileage, route, and temps are similar. Also, I am very interested in this whole Heart rate training thing. Congrats on the 14 miles!
ReplyDeleteMost of my mid-week runs will be the same 5 mile loop in my neighborhood and I can't wait to compare them all with this HR thing.
DeleteI work very hard on keeping my HR low on long runs! (In fact, I don't look at pace at all.) Let me just say, it is difficult to do in the summer! I think your HR came up toward the end of your long run simply due to the increase in temperature (weather). This happens to me all the time. I think you'll be very pleased with the results if you stick with this training. I'll be very interested to follow along on your journey. Thanks for linking, Heather.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've been keeping my watch on the HR screen so I don't get side tracked. Thanks for the encouragement!
DeleteI should pay more attention to my HR while running. I bet you will find you'll speed up once the heat and humidity drops. Honestly, whatever your doing is great out in this mess! Keep up the good work Heather and never be ashamed at your pace! There are lots of people who would give their right arm to just be able to run!
ReplyDelete