This Boogie is for real: HR Training - Day 21 & Week 3 Result

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.

A Remarkable Thing: HR Training - Day 19

Another light run, but I did my damndest to keep it under 138 bpm - I really did!

However, it was not meant to be with this run and I ended up spiking above in spots, letting my HR drift oddly again. Plus, not having enough Buh-bump! cream on the HRM didn't help things either.

But I did figure out some stuff.

1.) My HR doesn't stabilize in the first 10-15 minutes, even if I'm running "easy". It will stablize if I walk briskly though.
2.) Seems after the 10-15 minutes, my HR turns more consistant (guess I should warm-up more often and walk a good 10-15 minutes before most activities?)
3.) Once properly warmed-up, the slow speed that I was running at (about 16 minutes/mile) ended up giving me an HR in the low 130's/high 120's! I had to kick the treadmill past 4.0 MPH (15 minutes/mile) to start approaching my Aerobic Threshold of 138 bpm. Another piece of proof that this training IS working.

However, I'm still questioning why I have those low HR drops in the 2nd half of the run. The watch itself didn't display this data, so I'm wondering why the Suunto Training Manager is? Then again, I didn't use enough Buh-Bump cream.

Taking tomorrow off and enjoying the rest. Getting ready for Sunday's Base Builder II run. It'll be a nice change to not be subjected to a treadmill. :-)

And BOOM goes the Dynamite!: HR Training - Day 18

Well, comparing this Base Builder II run to the one on Day 16, the EPOC and the Training Effect were virtually identical. The HR zones that I was able to stay in at was not too far off either. But there was one CLEAR difference between the two. Today's run covered MORE DISTANCE and I was able to run at faster speeds within the same HR limits! Max speed was at a 5.7 MPH, 5.7! That's creeping closer to my 10 minute per mile pace that I've missed running at. Compared to when I was running in my Zone 2 level when I started (around a 5.2 MPH speed), this is showing me serious progress. I have also noticed that during the 5 minute zone 1 runs, I'm either at or just below a 15 minute per mile pace (4.0 MPH). This is also something very positive for me as well. If this keeps up, my easy/light pace might end up approaching 5.0 MPH or higher sooner than later.

The one thing that mildly bugs me though is that my HR was seriously drifting in the last 15 minutes of zone 1 running. It would suddenly crawl up to 145 bpm for a moment and then drop back down. I even dropped my speed below a 17 minute per mile pace and it was STILL doing that. I don't know whether it was dehydration (did sweat alot and sucked down my 16 oz bottle of water quickly) or just physiological changes from running a medium-hard run two days ago, only to do it again.

Looking forward to the light run tomorrow to give my body a bit of a break and I'll definately enjoy the rest day on Saturday!

A Near Death Experience?: HR Training - Day 17

See the first dot at the bottom of the screen? That's the 8 minute mark where my HRM read ZERO. Yeah, no beats per minute. The same HR that a corpse gives. I stopped my Suunto t6 and had it reconnect to detect my HR Belt again.

The light run was okay. I kept it at the original plan of 15m run-3m rest-15m run. My calves are mildly tight and I wanted to just get enough in since I have the Base Builder II run tomorrow.

I've noticed that my HR does tend to drift. Not too high after I'm warmed-up well enough, but enough to be annoying at times.

Good thing is that my need to walk to calm my HR down is becoming less and less. Plus, more of my HR steady beats are within the 132-136 area and only will crawl to 137-138 bpm (the limit of zone 1). If I push a bit more however, that's when it starts to crawl up to 139-141 bpm. Like I said, not too high of a drift, but enough to be annoying since my perceived exertion isn't THAT hard of a push in my opinion.

Oh well, the joys of trying to exercise PATIENCE.

Base Builder II tomorrow. Will I be alive for that one the entire time? Find out next time! :-)

The Sonic Boom: HR Training - Day 16

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.

Pullin' back on the reins: HR Training - Day 15

After a few email exchanges with Eric, I decided to do my best to pull back on the effort and try to stay MORE within my zones and not really diddle with the plan (he said to double the time with the same pattern at most, but not to go beyond unless I want to mess with my positive results so far.)

So today, I would keep the workout for the Base Builder at 40 minutes, the original time. Not increasing it to 55 minutes like I had been, not doubling it up to 80 minutes (although I'm allowed it), not tacking on other runs on it like I did on Sunday. I would keep to the zones as best as I could as well.

So during each 10 minute spot, I went at a slower speed than before and did my best to keep my HR hovering around 132 bpm. I ran at a slower speed for the 5 minute bursts, keeping it around 153-157 bpm as much as possible. I would do this and do my best to remember how the feeling was.

All in all, not bad. Some of the HR drifts were typical, but less than usual. I had one HR drop, but that was from a re-adjusting of the strap (I tightened it, but not enough - I might have to just buy one online or find a vendor who just sells the strap alone.)

Tomorrow - Excitement! Base Builder II! More faster running! More duration! Did I say excitement?