i desperately need to graph this stuff
I’m terrible at keeping a separate stat log, even though I’m pretty consistent at incorporating my stats right into daily blog posts. Well, today really makes me want to dig through my archives and do some graphing. Why? Because today marks the day my “easy” runs bumped right up against very recent “hard” efforts. What I mean is that today’s easy 90 minute pace (8:24 min/mile!) was run as fast as very recent 60 minute hard efforts. The really big thing about that is it didn’t feel hard at all.
I can remember a time not long ago when maintaining an average heart rate of 164 was really, really difficult. Well, today, my average heart rate was 164 and it was easy to hold it there. In fact, it was so easy, I often had to tell myself to slow down!
Time: 89 minutes
Distance: 10.6 miles
Pace: 8:24 minutes/mile
Average Heart Rate: 164
What is really great about this is that I am approaching a level of fitness that will allow me to run for a long time at the top end of my aerobic zone – 170 heart beats per minute. That threshold is otherwise known as my marathon pace. The other great thing is that I continue to improve in terms of running faster at any given heart rate.
It has taken me a bit more than three months to go from a 10ish minute/mile “easy” pace to a sub-8:30 minute/mile pace. I’ve got almost four more months before Red Deer Marathon to see how much more fit I can get.
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Sunday February 11, 2007 @
Three months, huh? Way to go!
I just completed my longest run yesterday (well longest since starting around New Year’s). It felt really good. The HR is much higher than what I’m used to when I’m on the bike, but the perceived effort is about the same. Weird. For me, it took about a year and a half (on the bike) before the HR dropped by about 10 bpm. It was pretty sudden too. My performance increased drastically. Sounds like you’re at that point too.
I’m also please to find someone else with a high avg HR. My cycling buddy would routinely have a MAXIMUM HR within a few beats of my AVERAGE HR. Good grief. And he’s prob 50% heavier than I am, to boot! Galled me to no end. I’m sure you know when your HR is hovering around 170-180 in a race, there’s not much more room to go before you hit the 200′s on a stiff climb.