This was a very taxing run. Not to the point of all-out sprints, but to maintain the intensity to shift back and forth between zones 1 and 2 within 5 minute spurts was an interesting one.
The Base Builder II consisted of running in 5 minute patterns of zone 1-2-1-2-1-1-2-1-2-2-1-1-1. I decided to take a queue from Stu Mittleman and do a 10 minute walk to warm-up. He advocates walking as a warm-up for 5-15 minutes, depending on the type of run that will be done. It also helps start up the Fat Mobilization process as well.
So, as you can tell, the EPOC curve is alot more gentle in the beginning than in my previous runs. Throughout each 5 minute moment, I did my best to stay in my respective zones, but if you're set to run 5 minutes at a faster pace to then drop to a slower one 5 minutes later, your HR will need time to drop. From what I gather, I think this teaches the body to recover faster and get into the lower HR zone more easily. But, it was a fun time to be able to run 5.4 MPH for most of the zone 2 stuff (about an 11.5 min/mile pace).
Seems that keeping my HR belt tighter nearly did the trick...almost. Still had one HR dip that was from a really quick adjustment during the speedy part.
The suprising thing was probably the EPOC and training effect landing in the Level 4 area (a Training Effect of 4.4). I worked just hard enough for the Suunto to consider this a "Highly Improving Training Effect". However, there are warnings not to get into this area too often and I hope that my second Base Builder II run on Thursday will be a good one too.
3 comments:
Everybody has there own views on training ... http://www.running-blogs.com/crowther/2009/01/my_least_favorite_endurance_co.html
I'm not a maffy but it's working for you because you are out there EVERYDAY and not taking 2,3, or 5 days off because you ran too hard.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks Arthur.
To be honest, I'm not a true Maffetone low-HR runner either. However, I can't argue the data that came out of my VO2Max test that I did with Eric a few weeks back either. So for now, I'm on a 42 day training plan that I compared to info from Maffetone, the updated stuff that Mittleman figured out on his own, and data from coaches like Daniels, Lydiard, & Van Aaken. There's a common thread to all of them - all advocate that you need a more solid aerobic base before you do anything else.
I just hope that after day 42, I still know what to do with myself and don't lose any gains.
That makes two of us ... who hope the short-term sacrifice is worth it for the long-term. Last year was a good running year for me (in terms of race times and no injuries), but the lure of building (or re-building) a strong AEROBIC base was too much to pass up. Just hope I'm still capable of running a good marathon time in May 2009.
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