A Lean and Hungry Look

Easy run along 21st East to Stratford and back via 16th East neighborhood.

Pace: 7:10

AHR: 155

I finished Born to Run yesterday.  What a fun read.

Plan was to do 10x3-min intervals with target HR of 178 and recovery jog of either 1 minute or until HR dropped to 130, whichever was later.  Unfortunately, it took forever for my heart to recover to that level, so the recovery jogs took far longer than expected and I ran out of time and had to cut my workout short.  I did the workout at Sugarhouse Park.

2-mile warmup around outer loop

1: AHR 165/MHR 177 (5:21/mi)

Recovery jog of 6:21 (are you kidding?)

2: AHR 169/MHR 181 (5:26/mi)

Recovery jog of 5:56

3: AHR 172/MHR 179 (5:17/mi)

Recovery jog of 5:38

4: AHR 171/MHR 181 (5:39/mi)

Recovery jog of 2:34 (no idea why it got so much shorter)

5: AHR 171/MHR 181 (5:45/mi)

Don't know how long recovery jog took--had to restart workout on Garmin

6: AHR 173/MHR 180 (5:44/mi)

Recovery jog of 2:18

7: AHR 174/182

Recovery jog of 4:20 and HR was still around 140

I don't know what to make of this workout.  I think the faster intervals, in addition to being at the beginning of my workout, included only 1 of the Sugarhouse hills, while the slower ones included both, which may explain the wide variation in pace.  I have no idea why it was taking my heart so much longer to recover during the early intervals (and again after number 7) than on 4-6.  I should note that the Garmin does not display HR when in interval mode (I forgot to set a target HR when I programmed the workout), so I was guessing except on the recovery portion, where it displayed how far above my target I was.  It seemed like I was able to get down to around 140 bpm within a reasonable amount of time, but the drop from 140 to 130 took a long time.  Maybe it would make sense to make 140 the threshold for starting the next interval.  Finally, I was tired after the workout but not nearly as tired as I would have expected.  Since I only did 7 repeats and not 10 and since I had tons of recovery in the early part of the set, that was not surprising.

Scheduled day off.

This was supposed to be an 8-mile tempo run with a target AHR of around 175 bpm, not to exceed 178.  I had planned to drive 6 miles up Emigration, but Brooke stayed at her mom's last night with the kids, so I didn't have anyone to take me back to the car.  Instead, I drove to Sugarhouse, did roughly 2-mile warmup, stopped, stretched, then started tempo.  There was a pretty stiff wind out of the northeast, so the south side and northeast hill were more challenging than usual.  After starting the workout, I exceeded 178 every time I hit a hill.  By the time I hit 4 miles, I had exceeded it at least 8 times and my pace was suffering.  As a result, I called it for the tempo section and finished the mileage out with an easy 4 or so. 

HR data and splits for the 4 miles of tempo were as follows:

Mile 1: AHR 170 (5:54)

Mile 2: AHR 177 (6:29)

Mile 3: AHR 176 (6:27)

Mile 4: AHR 175 (6:57)

Although AHR for the first mile was only 170, that was due largely to the fact that I had stopped and stretched after the warmup, so it took a bit for me to hit my target.  By the second hill on that mile, though, HR had hit 180.  It hit at least 181 in the second mile.  Even though I slowed dramatically on every hill (down to 8-minute pace or so), HR still jumped over 178 within a few seconds every time, then wouldn't come down until around 10-15 seconds after cresting the hill.  With the hills only about 1/2 mile apart, I was barely able recover from one and get back into a rhythm before I'd hit the next one.  

After calling the tempo run, the remaining 4 miles didn't feel great.  Sugarhouse may not be the best place for me to do tempo work while I'm trying to increase my pace.

Ran up to Wasatch then south along Shoreline Trail to turnaround point and back.  Felt light and easy today.

Pace: 7:07/mi

AHR: 155 bpm

Drove to Washington Terrace and ran past Mtn. Dell GC, over to Little Dell, up Little Mtn., down Emigration, up Crestview to Wasatch, down 13th South to Foothill, then along Foothill to Sunnyside and over to Steiner Aquatic Center (the kids had a swim meet).  Ate a banana on the way.  Plan was to do 4-mile warmup, then 2x10k at MP effort (171 bpm target).  Unfortunately, when I got out of the car and started getting ready to run, I realized that I'd left my Garmin at home.  I did my best to guess at distance and effort, then went back later and clocked the mileage.  Here's what I found:

Warmup: 4.3 miles to the T that turns up Little Mtn., then 5-minute rest plus refueling (1 pack lime Jelly Belly Sport Beans)

10k #1 ended up being...drumroll, please: exactly 6.2 miles.  Except for first 1.5 (up Little Mtn.), pace probably ranged between 5:50-6:00.  Effort felt like high 160s to low 170s.  Stopped briefly and downed another pack of jelly beans.

10k #2 ended up being short, but only by 0.1.  Pace may have slowed a bit at the end, but probably not by much.  With about 2.5 miles to go, I sipped a Strawberry Banana Power Gel with caffeine.  Suprisingly, although sweet, the gel went down quite well with a little water (need to remember that for future reference).  I didn't notice a spike-and-crash like I've felt in the past with caffeinated gels.

When I finished, I was tired but not wiped out.  I recovered well and never really experienced the heavy fatigue that sometimes accompanies long run days.  In fact, I was no more tired than after a 10-mile day.  I wish I'd had my Garmin to give me an accurate picture of my splits, but it was kind of nice to try to gauge my pace and HR by how I felt as opposed to relying solely on the device.