Nearing the end of the first week so tomorrow is the 'long run' day. Then I will assess how my first week of the year has gone, maybe keep a running total thingy on the page somewhere if I can remember how to write HTML!
This morning, however, just another 3 miler up the road and back to see how far it is. I'm pleased that the torrential rain has gone and the sunshine returned, but it's pretty windy this morning and up here on the hill overlooking the Irish Sea... well, you can imagine there's not much to break the wind before it hits us. Perhaps I could have worded that better...
And it was the kind of wind that comes filled with razorblades. I was glad I opted to wear a good jacket!
Definitely have recovered fully from the GNR. Legs felt fine and everything working okay. As you would expect, everything feels easier after a day of rest, and this was certainly the case. Even the toe was absolutely fine. It's just a little sore when I poke at it, so I'm trying not to poke at it! I do seem to have a slight pull on my inner calf on my right leg, but I imagine that with only easy running it should go off. It didn't get any worse while I was running so I'm taking that to be a good sign.
Once again, didn't manage very well at keeping the HR down as low as it should be, but it was my best attempt yet. As I have already mentioned, it is quite an undulating little route so that doesn't help, and of course, the wind today made it even harder. Never mind, I'm happy that it was a very easy run, I'm sure that's the main thing.
I'll state the bleedin' obvious - run slower if you want a lower heart rate. Joe Friel asserts that 99% of us train too intensely and very rarely reach our potential as we have trained poorly. Yes we might have covered a lot of miles and at a rate that leaves us exhausted, however most of it is wasted with insufficient rest and badly structured workout sessions (run, bike, swim or whatever!).
ReplyDeleteThe key to a long term lower heart rate is to run aerobically and run aerobically a lot. Anaerobic runs damage your aerobic base, so too many hard runs will help lose weight and help you mentally feel like you are doing well but whilst you will build better endurance, it will not be fast endurance!!
If you feel great on a training run, don't run faster, run further!!
Friel has written some great books on the subject and if you haven't read any, you MIGHT find them useful. Good luck.