Going Long

Nice easy run pushing the girls in the double stroller this morning.

Down through the park, along the lake east to Stadium Rd and Lakeshore Blvd.

Left a little later than normal (around 10:30 am), so there was much more traffic along the M-G Trail as we did our out and back route.

The girls did well until they started to battle going up Spring Rd within a kilometre or so from the end.  Doesn't it figure that they are angels all the way for almost 2 hours, and then start kicking each other and fussing when I'm doing the last hill of a long run?  :-)

Pushing the stroller that far was tough on my legs, but it kept me going slower and in my target heart rate zone.  I don't think I've ever been over 80% "in-zone" for a long Sunday run before.  It DOESN'T mean I'm going to be pushing the girls every Sunday (32k??  Yikes!).  But it does mean that I am capable of going sl-ow-ly. 

Time 1:59:51

Distance 16k (10 mi)

Pace  7:29/km (11:59/mi)

HR Zone  120-144 bpm

HR Avg 136  Max 170

In Zone 81% of run

Seemed to be flying today.  Hadn't been down around 5:30/km pace for my tempo run in a long while PLUS keeping my heart in the target zone for over 90% of the run.

I started with few hundred metre jog to get the blood moving to the muscles, and to get the heart rate up before I started my Garmin.  It was a bit on the cool side too, which probably helped a bit.

Felt great after finishing up and made me think about race strategy for the upcoming 10-miler on July 19. 

Time  32:48

Distance  6.01k (3.75 mi)

Pace  5:27/km (8:43/mi)

HR Zone  140-160 bpm

HR Avg 155, Max 162

In Zone 91.3% of the run

First set of hills for this cycle.  Actually, my first hills since December '08 as I was injured and then chicken about re-injuring my calf during March and April when I had hills on my schedule last cycle.

It was warm out today, 23C and sunny.  Kind of silly to go running hills in the middle of the day, but that's what I did.  I do like the sauna feel, so perspiring so much is a bit of a reward during a hard workout.

Plugged my heart rate zone in at 170 max and 120 min.  Not sure what that is going to do to my "quality" stat that I keep track of.  With such a wide zone, it's easier to stay in it.  I continued with the warm-up that I did yesterday.  It seems to get my head into the task at hand better than when the clock has started.  Not sure how I'll handle it at the start corral of the next or any future races.  We'll see . . .

Time  54:41

Distance  8.5 k (5.3 k)

HR Zone  120-170 bpm

HR max 175 avg 148

In Zone an amazing 97% of the run.  Gotta say that for a long or tempo run coming up!