Speed and Conditioning Improve

6:45-8 AM

RUN: Core work good—core still sore from yesterday’s swim; interesting, I’ve never felt that before. I think it was because I was stretching out the strokes so much. Shoulders feel good, not sore or clicky—makes me think my form was good. Anyway—the run:

6.4 miles
Time: 53:37
AHR: 137 (73%)
MHR: 160 (86%)
LAPS (1.6m in length)
First lap: about 15 minutes; hr around 125 (9:22 minute/mile)
Second lap: about 14 minutes; hr around 134 (8:45/ mile)
Third lap: about 13 minutes; hr around 143 (8:08 min/mile)
Fourth lap: about 12 minutes hr around 153 (7:30/mile)

This was more or less the pace I was going for throughout the run: to increase the pace on each lap by a minute, and that’s almost exactly what I did. Funny—I didn’t hit my stride until about mile 2-3 maybe 20 minutes into the run. It took that long. Maybe because I haven’t run in awhile with any speed or intensity. But this was encouraging; my leg felt okay—calves didn’t get tight.

My fastest lap time—12 minutes—was a minute and a half slower than my fast tempo pace from 2 weeks ago. BUT the most encouraging thing is that my average HR, 137, is SLOWER than the 139 it was 2 weeks ago when I ran the same distance almost a minute slower! So my speed AND conditioning are improving, even though I haven’t been running much—it’s the cross-training, body awareness, relaxation, etc. Clearly I’m not into OT, and the extra rest from running over the last week or so has been a help. Nice job!

Per mile pace: I’m going to shoot for 7:30 per mile in the real race, bringing my pace in the race to about 45 minutes or so…that would be a good goal, especially after the swim and the bike. But this was encouraging after the injury. Tomorrow: bike or brick? Don’t know yet…probably bike to allow myself to recover from the hard run.