dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I ran on the Pittman wash today.  I ran 1 mile at 160 HR over the same section where I did it on Saturday.  Differences: only 5.5 miles into the run vs 10, about 15 degrees cooler (about 70 degrees vs about 85), and a slightly more favorable wind.  The result was a 5:49 mile in comparison to the 6:14 I ran on the same section on Saturday.  I think it goes to show the difference that heat can make, as the additional aid from wind and from running this mile earlier in the run (less fatigue) can honestly only account for maybe 5-10 seconds, and the difference was 25.  Total time for 10.5 miles was 1:20:29.

I ran on the Pittman wash this morning.  I was running uphill into a headwind on the way out, and downhill with a tailwind on the way back.  I tried to keep my HR in the low 130's on the way out, and I hit my turnaround in 42:00.  On the way back I ran 4 x 800 with about 400m rest after the first two, and about 800m rest after the third.  During the 800's I tried to keep my HR right around 170 and I ended up with splits of 2:36, 2:36, 2:42, 2:35.  The third repeat was slower because it was during a half mile that has 7 sharp turns, a steep downhill (with a sharp turn at the bottom so you can't use the downhill effectively) and a steep uphill.  The fourth repeat had more downhill than the others and utilized the wind better, so it should have been faster, but I accidentally let the HR drop into the mid 160's during this repeat (probably daydreaming) and I finished close to where I was at during the first two repeats.  Total time for 10 miles was 1:15:05 (33:05 second half).

Today was mostly easy, with 1 mile at a faster pace in the middle.  I didn't wear the heart rate monitor today so no feedback there.  I had a headwind for most of the first half of the run on the Pittman Wash, but after about 4 miles the wind started to shift and by 4.5 miles I had a nice solid tailwind.  The only problem was that I turned around at 5 miles and once again had a headwind, which lasted for the remainder of my run.  I ran my faster mile just after turning around.  I ran a little faster than I normally would have because there was a guy running in the same direction up in front of me and I got exited.  It was also kind of fun to push against the wind for a little while (the wind had some nasty gusts that hit me, but it was not consistent so I don't know how much it slowed me down).  I finished that mile in 5:44, after which I finished running home with a total time of 1:16:07 for 10 miles.

I ran out on the Pittman Wash, and on the way back I ran 2 miles at a HR of approximately 170, finishing in 11:05 (5:20, 5:45).  Splits for the 2 miles are so different because the second mile rolls up and down constantly with 4 sharp turns, while the first mile is a steady gradual downhill.  I also averaged 171-172 HR for the first mile, so I backed off a bit, averaging 169 HR or so for the second mile.  The terrain differences and the decreased effort really made a big difference.  There was also a mild headwind during the 2 mile tempo that slowed me a little, but not a lot.  After about a mile and a quarter easy I ran another half mile at 170 HR in 2:35.  This half mile had a lot of downhill (with one short but significant uphill) which is why it was so much faster.  Total time for the run was in the 1:17:xx range for 10.5 miles (not entirely sure on the time because I cleared my watch part way into the run.

I woke up not feeling so well this morning.  I figured it was just congestion, but later realized that I was coming down with something.  I decided to do my entire run, but to not look at the time on my watch for the first five miles.  Instead I just monitored my HR to make sure that it didn't get too high.  I made it through 5 miles with an average HR of 137, and a time of 44:00 (8:48 average... ouch that is slow).  Based on effort I should have been going about 8:00 pace, but I could tell that I was going a lot slower.  On the way back I sped up to a HR of 160 for 1 mile to test how sick I really am.  6:10 for the mile (21 seconds slower than a few days ago, but 4 seconds faster than last Saturday).  The mile left me feeling reasonably optimistic that I am not too sick.  Finished running 12 miles in 1:37:38 after making it through 6 miles in 52:38.

I wasn't sure how far I would run this morning as I am sick, but I woke up feeling decent this morning so I decided to run a minimum of 15 miles today, and hopefully more, with a 5 mile tempo thrown in on my new tempo loop around the mall (1.25 mile loop).

I started by running to the mall, and running laps around it until it was time for the tempo to start (6 laps total).  I was thinking about picking it up just a little bit on the 6th lap as a segway into the tempo, but I started to feel a little sick and achy during the 5th lap, and I ran the 6th lap easy instead.  My plan at the beginning of the run was to hit a heart rate of 165 for the first two laps, and then to pick it up to 170 and 175 for the third and fourth laps.  However, when I started to not feel achy my heart rate started to spike, and by the time I started the tempo it was in the mid 150's.

At the start of the tempo my HR was in the high 160's, but I felt like I was jogging.  I went through the first quarter (downhill) in 1:20, followed by two consecutive 1:30's (rolling).  I then decided to not worry about my preset HR goals, and I picked up the effort to what felt reasonable.  800 splits were 2:50, 2:58, 2:55, 2:56, 2:58, 2:52, 2:54, 2:50, 2:49, 2:40.  Total time for the tempo was 28:42.  My heart rate averaged about 170 during the first couple miles, and then slowly climbed until it was around 180 at the beginning of the final mile.  During that mile it climbed as high as 186 during the final quarter when I was running uphill back to the starting line.

The tempo was interesting.  Yes, my heart rate was high because I was sick, and yes the tempo was kind of slow.  What interested me was the fact that my heart itself did not seem to be affected.  The HR was high I believe to compensate for other issues that were not the way they were supposed to be.  It was also interesting, because I had no problem pushing the HR higher than I normally see it get, and I could tell early on in the tempo that I was not working hard, despite the high HR.  I am going to have to experiment with things a little more.

After finishing the tempo I ran home to get some water (by this point I was pretty dehydrated) and then ran a couple miles extra to finish up with 17 miles on the day in a time of 1:55:40