Breaking the Wall

What time and where do you usually run in the AM?

Hmm.... Dragonvulture wants to know where and when I run. I wonder for what purpose :-)

We run on the Provo River Trail Tue-Fri at 6:00 AM, Mon and Sat around 7:00-7:30. Do you want to join us?

If you wouldn't mind having someone else come tag along on occasion. Always looking for people to run with. Where do you start running from?

Dragonvulture - that would be great. 5:55 AM Friday (tomorrow) at 339 N 1120 W in Provo. Saturday has not yet been decided, probably 7:30 AM.

Sasha, do you find your pace is slower when you run that early compared to later on in the day? I notice some difference although not sure how much is down to perceived effort

Chris:

The dark slows me down about 10 seconds a mile in race pace workouts, and 30 seconds a mile on an easy run.

This brings up an interesting question in my mind (somewhat akin to the training at altitude conundrum): Is it sufficient to train at a certain perceived effort, or does one really need to hit certain paces?

My assumption would be a certain mix of the two, but I could also see a benefit to running at the time at which you plan to race, which could be in the early morning or night, partially warranting training at odd times of day. Just a random thought...

For aerobic development you do not need to be very precise with pace/effort. Just hit it somewhere in the range where it is sustainable for as long as you need to without overloading the nervous system or causing an injury overtime, but at the time fast enough to where it is faster than virtual walking. For me, that is anywhere from 6:40 to 9:00.

For speed workouts it is very different. You need to be a whole lot more precise, but perceived effort still plays a critical role for a runner that knows his body. There are factors that would be impossible to account for mathematically - variations in wind, temperature, humidity, and the fitness on the day of the workout.

I agree completely, which is one of my arguments against my getting a Garmin (or other GPS/pace tracking device). I've simply often been vexed by the problem of whether early morning workouts were beneficial or detrimental to my training, given that if I performed the same workout in the same environmental conditions, simply later in the day, I would undoubtedly be faster than if it were run early in the morning...

(these are carryover thoughts from early morning high school track workouts and their afternoon counterparts...)

Sasha, I plan on being there tomorrow morning, look forward to the run.

Nevels, I'm fairly new to running, really started a year ago, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but having the garmin with the heart rate monitor on does help a lot in seeing improvements in aerobic activity. When you see your heart rate not going up as much over time while running the same distance at the same speed, you can easily see where your body is becoming more efficient in your running. There are of course variables to heart rate, diet, hydration, etc., but tracked over time you get a good indication of your actual effort over given distance and you can see when you are slacking off, or when you need to slack off. For instance, my first half I did last August, my heart rate was around 180 for the entire race, which I didn't know at the time, but do now, is probably not the best place to keep your heart rate for that long of a time. I was the guy who got to the end of the race, made it about one foot past the finish and laid on the ground for about 10-15 minutes. I couldn't even make it to the guy cutting the tags off the shoes. Maybe less than a week or two later I ran farther, faster, with much less effort and no long lasting side effects like I had from the race. And I love to connect all the dots from my GPS on google earth.