This morning I was determined to run 5kms to see how fast, or in my case today, how slow I could do it LOL.
It was drizzling when I set out. Hmmmm do I go back inside and do (another) bike ride? I decided to give it a go as it was a light drizzle and if it came down heavy I could always abort. So off I went, stopwatch clicking over, watching my step as it was pitch black at 5.15am, pushing myself hard but maintainable and certainly working with some puff.
At the 1km mark I looked at my time and knew that this was no cracking pace. Did I have it in me to push harder? Probably. Could I maintain it for the 5kms? Not likely. So I settled on that pace and kept going. I was working hard but stopping or slowing down was not an option.
So how did I go?
My time was 33:14 which means I was running my kilometres in just over 6:30. LOTS OF ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT THERE.
My heart-rate (including a short warm –up and cool down) sat at an average of 158 with it maxing at 173**. Yowzer! No wonder it felt hard but give me credit for being able to maintain that intensity for over 30 minutes. At the end of the run I was red faced, clothes soaked in sweat and ALIVE!! I felt great.
So I’m not surprised with my poor result. My running has been sporadic at best, non-existent at worse for several weeks now. I’ve lost a lot of aerobic condition but I know it can be trained back and relatively quickly. Bring it on.
What a great end to a topsy turvy month. I’ve had some good times but I also had some difficult, dark times where bad old habits took hold and I wondered if I’d ever be able to shake them. Mentally I’ve reviewed my April training plan and original goals.
Weight training: tick (exceeded my expectations thanks to Joe)
Cardio: fail – all over the place
Weekly Program: fail – all over the place (but not as critical as long as everything gets done) but fail on that account as well
Diet (macronutrient ratios + daily checklist): some successes, many failures
Goal Weight: fail (it was ambitious!!)
So what have I learnt from this? Lots. Tune in tomorrow and all will be revealed.
Cheers all
Magda
** Based on my age, my maximum heart rate should be 166bpm with my 60-80% training zone being 100-133bpm.
Discipline Over Motivation
5 years ago
5 comments:
Glad to hear you didn't let a little drizzle keep you from running-Up here in the tropics we're used to wet runs-LOL!
Sounds like you are still making progress just by keeping at it all-good on ya!
Good job, running in the rain. I'd have headed back indoors; cold and dark is bad enough, cold, dark AND wet - no thanks!
Forget about age-based HR numbers, they're rubbish. If I stuck to my recommended HRs, I'd barely get past a fast walk. I recorded a max HR of 218 a couple of weeks ago. That's 128% of my recommended maximum. I'm not dead yet. And my resting HR is somewhere in the 50s.
I think the theory is that us old folks should slow down. Bah!
Yes Raechelle I braved the drizzle but with cold added to it as well. I'm such a hero LOL!!! :-)
Hey Kek, I know us old folks can still kick butt on some of the lazy young folk around today. I've had some whopper readings too over the last year or so and yep we survive.
Thanks guys
Magda
Good on you hun :)
I have started back at runing but more of a weekend worrior type thing LOL but was thinking of adding it into the week too as it seems to get me working so much harder than the bike.
Look forward to tuning in tomorrow :)
Em:)
I agree Em. The bike never works me as hard as running. Its that hauling of all the bl**dy body fat (aka extra weight) that really gets the heart pumping and the cals burning so its worth it in the end.
Cheers
Magda
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