After over 4 weeks of sneezing and snorting I have had to give into the dreaded cold. Went out to work last night not feeling great, but after 9 hours chittering with a runny sore nose I had had enough. Not a good sleep this morning, constantly wakening up struggling to breath it was inevitable that I couldn't face another night of the same.
I phoned into work and signed of work. So much for my 0 Bradford score. Trouble is being sick means I'm stuck with a duvet and a box of Lemsip. My loose training plan is on the back boiler and the dog's not going to get walked.
I had been plodding along quite happily putting in the miles. February being the shortest month (even with it's extra day) has been my highest mileage month ever. My legs are feeling good on it too as I have been taking my rest days as total rest. I decided this week to cancel my gym subscription barely a year after joining. I never went more than twice per week and for the past few months twice per month.
After reading Andy Dubois blog and other info on strength/core training I have came to realise I don't need to be in a gym. I have even managed to set my Garmin workouts now, all very techy for me. I have interval sessions, tempo sessions, timed sessions, heart rate sessions all waiting on me getting over my man flu. Something new and different to keep the training exciting and me motivated. I'm turning into a data geek.
On Monday I did my 27 miles Rowerdennan to Beinglas and back with Tim, he had his heart rate monitor on and we ran at a good steady pace. I have decided I have had enough of the loch side though.
The following day I used my heart rate monitor to try keep myself at 75% of my max on my back to back long run. This was kind of hard considering I had picked the hilliest road route I know. I enjoyed the run and my legs felt fine only struggling slightly on a part of the route that was miserable grey and running into a headwind and drizzle. I think that says more about what was happening in my head than to my legs though. After turning I ran the 3 easiest miles to the end. Heart rate avg 75% over my 15 miles.
Now for a few days rest. I'm not going to fret over my training or lack of it, I'm going to finally kick this cold into touch. I feel if I go on as I am I'll still be sniffling in another 4 weeks and that is the last thing I want.
So back under the duvet for me and I'll finish listening to the pod casts. Always good to be motivated.
Karen
Hope you feel better soon. Sounds as if your training is on track. So relax and get over this cold first!
ReplyDeleteHi Karen, I'm no expert on this heart rate stuff but I thought the idea was to maintain a steady heart rate, not an average heart rate. Your HR trace from Tuesday looks more like an interval workout than a recovery or other type of steady run. Compare my HR trace from my Tuesday run with yours. (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/153389154 and http://connect.garmin.com/activity/153421876). If you're going to use HR zones for training I suspect you need to be a wee bit more disciplined in how you use it. Mind you, on that route I think it would be *very* difficult to run to a steady HR. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHope you're feeling better soon.
What I have learned in the few weeks of using my HR monitor is that I have no idea how to use it. That was me going steady, I was the hills that made my HR go way up ;-) discipline??? now your taking the fun out it.
ReplyDeleteWell it all depends what you wanted from your Tuesday run really. If you wanted a good hard workout on tired legs then you got that! ;-)
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think the point of aiming for a HR zone in training is to prevent you working too hard (or slacking off too much). That means that if you believe in the benefits of HR training (which I'm not saying I do but I'm prepared to give it a go), when you run, you don't aim for steady speed but instead steady effort. In practice, that would be almost impossible on that route unless you walked very slowly up the hills.
I set my HR alarms for the first time ever today and tried running to them, which was quite tricky to begin with. I had to slack off a *lot* on the hills to stop my HR rocketing out of the zone. Time will tell whether I get any benefit out of this.
I was aiming for a steady/hard run on tired legs. I was also curious about the HR info and what I could gain from it. I thought I was the only one who was having issues with HR flying up at low effort!
ReplyDeleteInitially I am finding it difficult to get up to the correct HR but then finding it difficult to say within the zones. I do think a lot more practise is needed.