I was reminded of an important lesson this past week, which was this. Everything is relative. When I’m fit, I can cruise around at 7 min per mile, give or take 10 sec, with a heart rate somewhere in the low-150’s, which is pretty much where it should be for me for most of my daily runs. If I increase the pace to say 6:30 per mile, I’ll generally jump to around 160, and if I get down to the low-6:00 range (marathon pace or thereabouts), I’ll be a little over 160, eventually creeping up to the mid-to-upper 160’s. The problem is, I’m not fit right now. In fact, I’m not even close. As a result, runs in the 7:30 per mile range are generating average heart rates closer to where I would normally be for paces a minute or more faster. Now, if I was in shape, there’s no way I would do a bunch of training at 6:20-6:30 per mile. It would be too slow to really work on race pace yet fast enough not to be easy. Log too many miles in that “no man’s land” zone, and you’ll eventually get fatigued and burn yourself out while not really accomplishing much. I know this, yet it’s exactly what I’ve been doing lately. While my mind tells me that 7:30 pace should be an easy day, my body is saying that it really isn’t at the moment, and as a result, I’ve been doing a lot of “moderate” running which has left me fatigued without a whole lot to show for it.
That said, this past week was a disappointment. The first couple days went well, but after that it was all downhill because I was just plain tired. By the end of the week I had to back way off and went from being on track, or even slightly ahead, of my mileage goal to falling short of what I wanted to run. Furthermore, I don’t feel like I got much out of the training I did earlier in the week. It’s frustrating, but at least I feel like I spotted the problem quickly and can now do something about it.
Going forward I’ll be slowing down the majority of my running. This should allow me to 1) run the total mileage I need and want to run and 2) throw in a few harder days that will boost my fitness faster than if I was to do all my running at the same pace. It’s a pretty basic concept, obviously, but one that’s all too easily ignored. Just because I’m in a base phase after coming back from a long layoff doesn’t mean I get to ignore the principles of intelligent training. So, lesson learned (or maybe remembered would be a better way to put it) and now it’s time to get back to work. Hopefully this time next week I’ll be able to report much better results and will be a step closer to where I want to be, even if it is just a baby step.
2 comments:
It amazes me at how different the training methods are of some of our top masters runners. Rich Burns crawls along 90% of the time then blazes his workouts. Tom McCormac blisters every run like it was a race. Pete Magill who has been injured for a year, so badly he had to limp around with a crutch in the mornings, has blazed back at 54 and 3/4ths to run 16:08 5K at Carlsbad. They've all had to find their own way through a whole lot of experimentation. Pete's book is pretty good but I just can't do that kind of volume...yet...Glad to see you running pain free!
Thanks, Steve. One of the things that makes this sport fun is it's one big science experiment. I just hope I get the formula right this time! :-)
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