2/11 Run

Rand another lap around the lake one Wednesday. I don't have my log in front of me, but it worked out to something like 6.35 in 1:04:30 (I remember Garmy saying 10:10 average pace) and 151 avg bpm. Was able to run this solo, which meant I could push the heart rate up towards my max. Looks like I'll be able to run on Friday with Blake, which means I can push the HR again a little.

Was reading The Daniels' Running Formula on the bus in to work and he discusses heart rate training on the treadmill and points out that you may not get the optimum workout because of the lack of convective cooling. Not having the moving air to cool you causes your HR to go up because you need to cool yourself. He strongly recommends a fan if you need to do HR training on a treadmill. He also had some interesting ideas about hill training on a treadmill, but I haven't gotten there yet. I'm not too worried about my HR on the treadmill, because despite going more slowly, the pace seems to be in line with what I've seen outside, albeit at a lower HR.

Val and I took a few minutes to use Garmy to do an easy test of our Resting Heart Rates last night. Not the optimal or most accurate way to check it, since you're supposed to do it first thing when you wake up and before you get out of bed, but we just threw the monitor on while watching some TV and talking.

Val ended up going as low as 59. I'm pretty sure it was around 73 at Christmas time when I got my new toy and we played. Amazing what a few months of working out can do.

Mine dropped as low as 49, but I'm calling it 50 since that's where it spent most of the time. That's down at least 5 points from when I had it checked during my annual last year sometime. Interestingly it appears that a 5 point drop actually LOWERS the range (by a point or two) I have to work in right now. Hmmm....

The Daniels book is pretty dang good. It's definitely targeted towards fast runners with his time estimates, but the principles and methodologies are applicable to everyone. I'm going to have to read it a few times to get it all, depending on focus I think.

I've got two new books on the way, one on recommendation from Val's trainer, and one from a blog I can't remember. Her trainer recommended Core Performance Endurance, and the other was Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes. I'll let you know how they turn out. I got Val the New Rules of Lifting for Women on a couple of recommendations from people. Sounds to be a really good book too.