a good effort (running in shorts!) pays off
It was warm again today. Lots of snow is melting. In fact, most of the snow and slush is off the paved running paths and sidewalks. What a relief that is after the long winter we’ve been having.
I was ecstatic to put on shorts today. Wow. Such a feeling of lightness and freedom. Add to that the fact that the sluggishness I’ve had the past couple of days seemed to be fading, and today felt like a great opportunity to push the hard run. To do that, I first gave some thought as to why I always seem to run my 60 minute work route 20 seconds per mile slower than my 60 minute home route …hmmm.
The work route is slightly more hilly but not so so hilly as to make the difference …hmmm.
Then I started thinking about the bridges I have to get on and off of to cross the river. Two bridges adding up to four times I typically slow down going up and down the stairs or ramps …hmmm.
I decided to push myself when getting on and off the bridges. It worked. What a difference.
Time: 59:50
Distance: 7.76 miles
Pace: 7:42 minutes per mile
Average Heart Rate: 170 bpm
If you’re keeping score, I ran this route 17 seconds a mile faster than last time just by focusing hard on not slowing down at four sets of bridge stairs and ramps. Oh, that and maybe the fact that I was wearing SHORTS for the first time in 2007!
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One last note: I’ve dropped another pound and am down to 162 – a 16 pound drop and the lightest I’ve been since my early twenties.
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Saturday March 10, 2007 @
One of the benefits of Lydiard’s base training is the development of stamina or endurance at any given pace. Once you’re on the pace, it feels like it can be held for a long period of time. I have noticed that occasionally I have brought the pace up a notch too fast (I thought) only to find I could still keep the pace for an hour. It only takes a little experimenting to find where that “hour pace” is *really* at.
All that to say: pushing or bringing up the pace quickly after a necessary “slow-down” such as stairs, corners, or traffic may introduce a little lactate acid but does allow you to avoid the trap of running slower than optimum. In this manner, you can find some new paces.
The flip side is this: introducing bursts of speed in the marathon race is a non-starter if racing off base training alone. I know this from experience. Without speed work to develop the proper lactate buffers, these “pushes” either up hills or after water stops bring the finish to mile 20 or so instead of 26.2. This is why as we approach the race date, we’ll be introducing a “speed phase”. Not to get faster, but to increase one’s ability to buffer the negative effects of lactate that come from any sort of short burst of energy ( a mere hill qualifies ).
Another caution to pushing off those stairs: the danger of too much time tracking – where we expect pace improvement in almost each run. The heart rate will tell the tale.
You’re doing great. The weight loss, improved paces, all point to a readiness to move to the next phase – which begins a few weeks. Got any hills over there?