thy shalt not cheat thyself
It was a teensy cheat but I won’t do it again. 
Today, after reading Coach’s comment on my last post, I opted to push my “easy” run home by just a smidge. Here’s the result:
Distance: 9.12 miles
Time: 1:27 (This is where I cheated – I’m technically supposed to run 90 minutes. Hey! That’s about 1/3 of a mile I cheated myself out of!)
Pace: 9:32 min/mile (a decent “easy” pace)
Average Heart Rate: 148 (wow, nice and low)
I am at a point in my training where I can make some comparisons between now, and 2004 – the year of my last marathon.
Similarity: Then and now, I was able to run my long slow runs at a 9:30 min/mile pace, and my one hour marathon pace/hard runs at 8:00 minutes per mile.
Difference: Then, my average heart rate was much higher at both paces. If memory serves, my average heart rate for the 8:00 min/mile pace was about 175 (today it’s about 160 to 163), and for the 9:30 pace it was 165 (today it’s 145-ish). Wow.
To be fair, back then I was pretty good at running faster paces. For instance, my tempo pace (30 or so minutes) was 7:09 with a 90-95% heart rate. But, as Andrew has pointed out, my short distance running had no relationship to longer distance racing. According to most measures, my 1/2 marathon PR of 1:40 should have translated into a 3:30 marathon. It didn’t. In 2004 I was never able to establish a connection between those racing distances – the best I achieved was a 3:42 with my last marathon (Oct. 2004) being a disappointing 4:01.
And that’s what the Andrew/Lydiard program is all about – building the proper cardio base that will connect those dots and, hopefully improve times all along the spectrum (the “hopefully” part is long-term).
I would point out I’m only 10 weeks into this program. I’ve got four and a half months to train for (“test”) Red Deer Marathon and nine-ish months till my September marathon.
Lots of improvement to come…as long as I can stick to my “don’t make any stupid mistakes” mantra, that is.
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Comment by 
Tuesday January 02, 2007 @
Your milage is remarkable! I’m no surprised that a fast short run never translates in to a long run at the same pace. That just makes no sense at all.
I admire your tenacity on this training program!