A Passion for Running

Holy moly, the miles I’ve been running are really starting to pay off:

1. My hard run paces are getting faster. Earliest to latest, my last three hard runs were run at 8:14, 8:09 and 8:00 minutes per mile. What’s really cool about the last pace is that a) It’s a 3:30 marathon training pace, and b) I ran it with an average 163 heart rate – midway into my “hard” heart rate training zone.
2. Working heart rate is decreasing. I was astounded to run my second last “easy” run at an average heart rate of 139 beats per minute. My admission is that I set out to see how low a heart rate I could do that run in but, to me, that’s still incredible since two months ago, I struggled to keep my heart rate under 155 running the slowest pace I could run at.
3. I’m still trimming down. One week ago, I weighed in at 169 pounds. I believe I’ve lost about 7 pounds in the last couple of months and I haven’t been under 170 in two years.
4. I’ve gained muscle mass in my hamstrings. Those puppies are really growing!

I’ve been 60 miles/week for a few weeks now and I feel pretty darn good. Compare that to a couple of years ago training at 45 or so miles a week and feeling tired and beat up. I think kudos are due to Coach Andrew, Arthur Lydiard and my much improved running form.

Today’s Run

Distance: 7.64 miles
Time: 1:01:15
Pace: 8:00 min/mile
Avg Heart Rate: 163

My long run happened to land on Christmas day so I had planned on shortening it up a bit but, as I would soon find out, that was not meant to be.

An hour into my run, I happened upon an 80-something year old sitting in the middle of the sidewalk in one of these:

He wasn’t moving and there was absolutely noone around. As I approached, I could tell he was very upset. His battery had died in the middle of the cold trip to fetch groceries.

So, I pushed him home – a 1/2 mile out of my way. I felt so bad for him as he complained about the “sins he must have committed” to be having the horrible day he was having on Christmas.

He was grateful I was there to help but I felt pretty badly for him.

I have so much.

Things are still not good with Complete Running but that won’t stop me from running.

Because of what I mentioned in my last post about my right Achilles, I reduced running intensity on Wednesday by making my scheduled “hard” run one of the “easy” variety. I also concentrated very hard on a quick pull of the foot and high cadence.

I continued the focus on form on my 90 minute run on Thursday and today’s “hard” run. I was thinking I’d be running today’s run at easy effort pace but the achilles felt good so I eased into the hard effort.

The strategy worked. I ran today with no pain.

I’m learning some things about my body as it gets used to this amount of running – that my muscular and skeletal systems definitely lag behind my cardiovascular system. Lately, I’ve been finding it much easier to run with more intensity – easier on my heart and lungs that is. But my muscles/tendons and bones feel the increased intensity after only a few days.

So, I am learning as I get to that “next” level of fitness.

Take care, you.

I did a lot better pre-run today. Breakfast? Check. Lunch? Check. Adequate H20 in the tank? Check.

So, overall I felt much better on today’s run. However, that dang right achilles of mine was really bugging me. It took 60 minutes before I was able to avoid pain there by an intense focus on a very quick foot pull/cadence. The last 30 minutes went very well and it felt ok when I got home. I’m icing it right now.

Distance: 9.12
Time: 1:31
Pace: 10:00 min/mile
Avg. Heart Rate: 148

Thanks everyone for your positive comments.
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On another note: It looks like we may have things under control with the web site. Crossing fingers.