M 10 miles (6:55mm), 5 miles (7:27mm)
T 10 miles (6:47mm), 5 miles (7:34mm)
W 14 miles including progressive 10 miles (6:05mm), 4 miles (7:26mm)
T 10.5 miles (6:44mm), 4 miles (7:27mm)
F 8 (6:48mm)
S 22 miles progressive long run (6:30mm)
S 10.5 miles (6:32mm)
Total - 104.3 miles (6:44mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 1020 beats per mile average
Average Weight 148.5 Lbs
Average RHR 37.5bpm
This week was about building the mileage a little both with the Wednesday session and the Saturday long run. All in all it went well and I can feel my fitness improving every run with all my easy general aerobic runs steadily getting quicker for the same heart rate which is a very positive sign and so there has been big strides made in terms of my aerobic efficiency.
The Wednesday morning run was really tough, especially towards the end. I had increased the length of the hard bit to 10 miles from 8 this week with the intention of increasing the pace a few second each mile. Although starting a bit slower this week by the time I was 8 miles in of high aerobic/lactate threshold running it's very difficult to keep increasing the pace which I think is what makes this a very good marathon specific session. Especially as probably half of it was slightly quicker than my current marathon pace would be. This session is all about trying to replicate how you're going to feel in miles 22-26.2 in the marathon. From experience I know that at that point it generally feels like you're sprinting, even though in some cases you're actually coming to a standstill! I just about managed it, which was rather satisfying and always nice to have the big session banked by 7:30am!
I've decided to monitor my weight and resting heart rate quite closely to see if I can see any gradual improvements over the weeks. My weigh in is every day at the same time, after run, after mini-breakfast and I shall be taking an average over the week such are the fluctuations day to day. Hopefully over the weeks I will see my weight gradually dropping to somewhere around 10 stone. I think my lowest racing weight before has been about 10 st 3lbs and it would be nice to get down to that if not a little lower. My resting heart rate is already quite low (I'm measuring it as soon as I wake up each day) so it says to me that there is an underlying level of fitness there still form the spring. I would be surprised if that got down much lower although I have seen readings as low as 33 bpm in the past.
The Long run on Saturday was really encouraging if a little early to start. We had our family 'summer' BBQ so I had to be back in good time to get stuff prepared. My HR started off really low and took ages to get going, I think this was partly because the first few miles were downhill on an out and back course. But I finished the run feeling very strong, the legs were a touch tired but it was a big improvement on last week in terms of pace and also the hart rate over the whole run. Sunday's run was another easy/steadyish run and although I felt quite sluggish probably due to the fact that I had eaten my weight in Polish sausage at the BBQ it was OK pace wise and in terms of HR was very efficient.
As I mentioned last week a good sign of my improving fitness is my aerobic efficiency which I measure using a HR beats per mile average. Once it gets below 1000beats per mile average then I am getting into pretty good shape. This week has seen an improvement from 1059 beats per mile down to 1020 so I'm definitely getting there. I can only really put it down to consistency of mileage over the past three weeks running. Consistency as any runner will know is their best friend.
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