Base Miles
Okay, so this whole base mile project has been a little crazy. After my last post I did a couple more base mile runs - they seemed to be better with the new heart rate zones, but I still felt like maybe I was doing something wrong. Then last Saturday I went out and did just a regular run. It felt so good to be running again! Actually stretching out my legs instead of keeping my stride small and tight.
However, I may have overextended myself a bit. I only ran three miles - and was pretty dead at the end. I did the whole run in just about 29 minutes. And maybe I'm not quite that fast again yet. I did sprint out the last little bit - to see if I could get it to change my max heart rate.
Then this week, I tried again with the base miles. On Monday I had an awesome run. I discovered through ITunes these mixes called Podrunner by dj steveboy. They are all about an hour long - and set to be a certain number of beats per minute. It's not the kind of music I would normally listen to, but since I am very beat driven - I thought I would try it out.
I used crazy logic that first day and decided that since I wanted my heart rate to be at a certain place - I'd pick a song with the same bpm. Only on my way back from the run did I realize that the beats per minute in the song were not referring to heartbeats - but would instead be how many steps per minute I took.
Nevertheless - it worked out. I had a great run - it was a lot of fun and I was able to handle things like inclines better. On other days - as soon as I hit anything resembling an incline - my heart rate would jump. I found I could keep my feet moving at the same pace and still wildly vary the amount of effort I was putting in. It was one of the best runs I've had. I actually felt like I was running - and my watch wasn't beeping at me constantly telling me that my heart rate was too slow or fast.
So then on Tuesday - my monitor reset its zones. So I was excited. Until I checked - it had just reverted them back to what they were before I reset them manually. Ugh. I decided to give it a shot. And the thing was going wonky. I had barely started and it was telling me I was above zone 5. So I said forget it - and just ran. Felt pretty good, and had fun with the podrunner.
Thursday I decided to work on speed a bit. I'd read in Runner's World that I am supposed to be aiming for about 180 foot falls per minute. So - I found a Podrunner that was at 172 (I think). Since I had been doing 154 - it would be a big jump. I also decided to run 4 miles instead of just three - or just for time. Maybe I shouldn't have done both on the same day.
It started out well - but got really hard. I ended up running 3 miles, walking half a mile, and then running in the last half mile to a 180 bpm mix. My legs were definitely more sore - so I think this is a good thing for me.
Today I think I was back to a 160something, but I don't really remember. I was going to do a base miles workout - but it seemed to slow - so I just ran again. I was really pretty tired. So I'm thinking I really do need to throw in recovery days where I can take it easy!!
Anyway, just under two weeks to finish fundraising for the Houston Half. Please donate!!
Looking forward to the new season - so far I have 7 mentees.
However, I may have overextended myself a bit. I only ran three miles - and was pretty dead at the end. I did the whole run in just about 29 minutes. And maybe I'm not quite that fast again yet. I did sprint out the last little bit - to see if I could get it to change my max heart rate.
Then this week, I tried again with the base miles. On Monday I had an awesome run. I discovered through ITunes these mixes called Podrunner by dj steveboy. They are all about an hour long - and set to be a certain number of beats per minute. It's not the kind of music I would normally listen to, but since I am very beat driven - I thought I would try it out.
I used crazy logic that first day and decided that since I wanted my heart rate to be at a certain place - I'd pick a song with the same bpm. Only on my way back from the run did I realize that the beats per minute in the song were not referring to heartbeats - but would instead be how many steps per minute I took.
Nevertheless - it worked out. I had a great run - it was a lot of fun and I was able to handle things like inclines better. On other days - as soon as I hit anything resembling an incline - my heart rate would jump. I found I could keep my feet moving at the same pace and still wildly vary the amount of effort I was putting in. It was one of the best runs I've had. I actually felt like I was running - and my watch wasn't beeping at me constantly telling me that my heart rate was too slow or fast.
So then on Tuesday - my monitor reset its zones. So I was excited. Until I checked - it had just reverted them back to what they were before I reset them manually. Ugh. I decided to give it a shot. And the thing was going wonky. I had barely started and it was telling me I was above zone 5. So I said forget it - and just ran. Felt pretty good, and had fun with the podrunner.
Thursday I decided to work on speed a bit. I'd read in Runner's World that I am supposed to be aiming for about 180 foot falls per minute. So - I found a Podrunner that was at 172 (I think). Since I had been doing 154 - it would be a big jump. I also decided to run 4 miles instead of just three - or just for time. Maybe I shouldn't have done both on the same day.
It started out well - but got really hard. I ended up running 3 miles, walking half a mile, and then running in the last half mile to a 180 bpm mix. My legs were definitely more sore - so I think this is a good thing for me.
Today I think I was back to a 160something, but I don't really remember. I was going to do a base miles workout - but it seemed to slow - so I just ran again. I was really pretty tired. So I'm thinking I really do need to throw in recovery days where I can take it easy!!
Anyway, just under two weeks to finish fundraising for the Houston Half. Please donate!!
Looking forward to the new season - so far I have 7 mentees.
1 Comments:
We just learned about this on saturday! We had a ChiRunning (www.chirunning.com) clinic before our TNT run. He taught us all about how to stand and run to exert the least amount of energy. One of things he said is important is cadence and suggested we buy a cadence monitor from the music store (it beeps, like the songs you listened to). He suggested that we figure out what rate we run at, and then aim at adding one bpm more each week. so, maybe that will help you.
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