My Knee has Broken, Like the First Morning

BAH!

Bad news - my left knee seems crocked :o(

Which means lots of rest. I think it's the bursa just below the knee on the inside. It's not impossible to run with, but I figure I'll just make it worse if I do.

I haven't done a long run with a couple of weeks with the lurgy, so this is a bad thing.

GRRRRR!

Probably Shouldn't Have Run

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 53:00
AvHR: 156

ARGH!!

I've had the lurgy for the past week or so, and although a bit gunky still, I really felt like a run tonight. I did doubt whether I should somehow, ass my HR standing at the door was over 90, whereas normally it is around 72 before I set off.

Anyhoo - I quickly realised this wasn't going to be a run where my HR stayed down. I soon got to the double beep that told me I was above the zone, and I was deliberately being careful to take it easy! This was a case of either walking every few hundred yards or running at my usual sort of pace and seeing what happened to my HR. I opted for the latter.

I got to half way marginally faster than usual (like - about 20 seconds) but with an average HR 15 to 20 bpm higher (I didn't check it exactly). I took a drink, tightened my shoe laces, and took a minute's rest. Normally during this time, my HR drops to about 100-105. Today - it never dipped below 120. Clearly something was wrong. I didn't feel too bad running, I have to say, but my HR was just in completely the wrong territory!

Anyhoo - I finished the run in 53 minutes dead, but with an average HR of 156. This gave me a score of 7.257. Way down on the last run, but this was only to be expected. A faster time, but a much higher HR. I'm just going to discount this as a run affected by my lurgy, and possibly (probably!) one I shouldn't have done. In my defence it had been ten days and I was dying for a run!

The Twilight Zone?

Time: 54:41
Distance: 6 miles
AvHR: 139

Great run - everything went smoothly, with barely any walk breaks - even on the steepest hills. Even when I did need to stop, it was just for 20 seconds walking before the HR dropped again.

Just a couple of problems - early on in the run, when my HRM suddenly went from a single bleep (below target range - i.e. below 137) to a double beep - meaning that it had shot to over 144. In fact it had shot up to the 160s. So I stopped. And then it shot up to the mid 180s the first time, and no less to 220 the second time. While I was stopped!! I fiddled with the monitor, but couldn't get it to go down, and eventually took it off and refastened it. The second time this seemed to work, and I went on to have a most enjoyable run. The freak readings for several minutes though may well have knocked up the average HR by at least one BPM.

I've refined my thinking on my new base training index. Multiplying the two values together is good, but this leaves me with wanting to reduce the number, and anyhow - it's rather a big value. My new version is calculated as follows. It doesn't take into account distance, so it assumes the same course, but I run the route a lot anyhow. Here it is:

BT index = 10000/(pace per mile x average heart rate)

Here the pace per mile was around 9:07, or about 9.1 mins/mile, so we have

BT index = 10000/(9.1 x 139) = 7.91

Not sure what name I should give these! I feel they deserve some fancy name that means something to base trainers. 7.91 panties maybe?!?

More Base, less Speed!

Distance: 6 miles

Time: 57:30

AvHR: 138

My usual 6 mile route up Northey Avenue. I really didn't get the pace right today, starting off too quickly and somehow not quite managing to stay under my target well enough. It was only a few BPM difference, but it did mean I kept having to walk. Was it tiredness, too much coffee, a lurking lurgy, or what? Who knows?

All in all a frustrating run, and a minute slower than the equivalent run last week, but it really wasn't much different in many respects. At least I managed to keep the two halfs of the run far more even.

I'm toying with some sort of new statistic (having been impressed by Susie's) and I'm working on some sort of overall figure - it's better if I do the route faster, but not if the average heart rate is higher. Then again, same pace at lower HR is good, same HR at a quicker pace is good. Maybe multiply the two figures together, and aim to reduce the figure as time goes on. In other words, it's okjay if the HR is higher, as long as the time per mile reduces by more. Hmmm - I can feel a graph coming on! Just need to get some more stats to go into it! Watch this space :o)

Weight - seems to have gone up - not sure why - I've run thirty miles and eaten way more fruit and veg. Must be muscle. Or something. Hmmm!

Now I Know What a Slice of Lemon Feels Like

Distance: 13.5 miles

Time: 2:02

No more details unfortunately - I used my watch to time my bath afterwards, and lost all the data :o( Still - I started with a high HR, possibly shouldn't have run (it was 91 as opposed to 71 the other day), it was windy, and there were a lot of hills. I decided to try to stay around 155 but didn't manage it on the hills, which were long and plentiful, and all into the wind! Add to that I had some twinges from the Saturday BodyPump class, and was feeling really sluggish for some reason, and it all made for not a good day to run! Still - I did it, and I'm glad I did too, as it's the longest run so far this campaign, and until the last couple of miles actually felt pretty good.

I did nearly give up near the start - the right adductor was tugging quite badly after a hundred yards, which was a left over from the BP class, but I kept going and it eased off. My right ankle got sore, and somehow didn't seem to be moving right, but this went off after a couple of miles, and I started the first long climb. This certainly got the heart rate up, and I stopped to walk part way, and then started again slightly slower. The next climb was a lot easier, as although it's another one over a mile long, it's shallower, and I managed to cope with it better. There was a half mile downhill next, which was a chance to free-wheel, and then a steep climb of a similar length (what would I give for a JCB to make that one mile of flat road - just move the earth around!!), and then a real breather as the next couple of miles are flat or downhill. Things were going well at this point, and I was about ten miles into the run and flowing nicely, if at a faster pace than the last few weeks. HR was hovering at mid 150s.

After about eleven pretty comfortable miles, my legs started to feel tired (fair enough really!) and my pace dropped. The last few miles were quite a hard slog with the pace dropping from what was probably about 8:30 to 10 min/mile plus, givign an average of 9 and a bit min/mile. Too slow really, I need to be able to do 7:50s consistently (for 26.2 miles), but it's early days and I'm just getting used to the miles again.

Then after that I decided to try my first ice bath. Not having a fancy ice maker, I'd bought 2kg of ice from the local Supermarket (at 85p that's pretty cheap). I wasn't sure how cold it would be so I ran my usual cold bath and climbed in, and then after a minute added half the ice. "That's not very cold", I though, and so added the rest. What I hadn't bargained for was that it takes a while to take effect!!! Within a couple of minute sit had definitely got cooler! Not drastically badly though, and a mug of hot tea, a bobble hat and a radiator made it feel not too bad.

Today the legs feel just a smidge tired - not too bad at all considering. I could do a recovery run even, but since I only actually did two runs the last few weeks, maybe running consecutive days this soon would be daft. I can do three runs this week without doing that.

Still - because my long run last week was a Monday, my total for the last seven days is - 30 miles :oD

Getting the Hang of This

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 56:24
AvHR: 138
Pace: 9:27

Tonight - I finally got it. I managed to keep a pace going. I didn't ever have to slow to a complete shuffle. Instead - I flowed along nicely, anticipating rising heart rates and pretty much avoiding anything going over 143. And the times I didn't, I stopped, walked a few paces as I took a drink of water, and then resumed as my HR dropped rapidly.

I've decided to do this route (to the Ewell bypass and back) once a week to see how I'm progressing. I desperately need that pace to come down. My target time for FLM means that I need to be able to run 7:50 pace comfortably. Fortunately, I *think* I can run at a higher HR and still not get too much of a lactic build up. Which after all is the objective. I'm just very conscious of lack of time. I only have three months, and I'm trying a technique that takes a long time. Maybe I should just stick with more conventional training and blast it every night?

Weight was up this morning - no idea why - been eating healthy and exercising more than I've done for a while.

Back to Base-ics

Distance: 11.2 miles

Time: 1:57:49

AvHR: 139

Min/mile: 10:31

More base training, and the furthest distance so far this campaign. All was going a lot better until the last few miles when my heart rate drifted dramatically, and I had to keep stopping and walk every 50 yards or so. Very frustrating. Must keep training and then do my previous session again in a while.

Tried putting a heel raise in both shoes today to even things out, but still got right leg problems. Maybe it is just a niggle from not running.

Day off tomorrow - or a day off from running at least, I may well do some cycling or swimming.