Over the weekend, I had a few choices. Either take Saturday off or turn it into a 5.1 mile muddy, horse-crap covered, cold, dark trail run at Bridle Trails. Thankfully, better heads prevailed and my senses said to stick with the training schedule.
So, originally I was going to run outside to do the Base Builder II run with a 15 minute brisk walk for a warm-up. But then something started to nag at me and I decided to hold off on doing it outdoors, settling again for the treadmill hell that I've developed an unusual and sick liking for. Sure enough, a sudden downpour showed up at the time I was planning on heading out. Dodged that bullet. I have enough to worry about with managing my HR in the training plan, I don't need the pain of being cold and wet (mostly wet) until I get this thing nailed down first.
So, on the treadmill again with a 1% incline, doing the same run as I did on Day 16 and Day 18, except an even longer warm-up (15 minutes versus 10) and I would try like mad to keep my HR in better check in the zones. I also chose to run a bit easier in Zone 2 and not try to push it to the 161 bpm Anaerobic Threshold limit.
I have to say that this was another interesting find. I kept the speed between 3.6-3.7 MPH and my HR hovered roughly around 134 bpm on average, usually staying relatively low for the first two Zone 1 runs. It eventually creeped up as time went on as I maintained the same speed settings for those 5 minute spots. When I was required to go to Zone 2, I didn't push as I said. I went easier and more comfortable than in the past. As a result of that, my set speed was at 5.0 MPH and my HR stayed in the relatively lower 150's! I knew I had it within me to push more in the zone, but as I said - I didn't want to force it. Also, checking past data points from previous runs in the same "moderate" zone, I had a higher HR on average, more points where the HR would be floating above the 161 bpm mark, and my speed was not all that much faster than 5.0 MPH (between 5.1-5.2 at best and I HAD to slow down for those times!)
There is also something else that I noticed. Every time I took a swig of water, my HR would go up a few points (anywhere from 2-4 beats). If I drank where the water slowly entered my system, the rise was less than if I swigged and gulped. I wonder if the body processes it as fast as it can, causing the HR rise? I can only assume that if this is indeed true (still trying to find any documentation that can support this), eating on the run will also diddle with the numbers as well.
Well, this is the half-way mark in the training plan and I have another three weeks left. For the remaining weeks left, I have to start heading outside. The new run on the weekend (The LSD Base Run) requires that I'm out for 116 minutes (this doesn't include any warm-up or cooldown times) doing a combo of Zone 1, Zone 2, and even some Zone 3 (yeah, my HR gets to get jacked up past my 161 bpm Anaerobic Threshold limit a few minutes at a time). But one nice thing is that I can use one of these LSD Base runs to do an event! More details to come on that.
And below is the progress for Week 3.
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