"It's a treat being a runner, out in the world by yourself with not a soul to make you bad-tempered or tell you what to do." - Allan Sillitoe


Friday, December 5, 2008

So far, so good (apart from regularly updating this blog ... )


This the promised "before" shot - with any luck the flabbiness will be gone pretty quickly - it sure is a sign of age when you are running 4 times a week but it is not enough. Although I eat pretty well and avoid fatty and junk foods, I probably eat a bit too much when it comes to portion size. This is a good thing when you are right in the middle of marathon training and trying to recover between runs but I should scale back more when my running is at a lower level.
So far this week I have run 12km on Tuesday, 9km on Wednesday, 12km on Thursday and 9km again this morning. Although I could get a longer run out again tomorrow, I think I will just do another 9km before 21-22km on Sunday. This is my first week back running 6 days a week so don't want to overdo it, especially as I am keeping my long run at the same distance.


That will give me around 77km for the week which is a good base. I am doing the 9km runs as very easy runs and sticking to grass alongside the dual use paths which I generally run on in the hope that this will lessen the wear and tear on my legs. They feel fine at the moment but I am a bit apprehensive about how they will be once I start some speed and interval work over the next few weeks.


I have set up a link to the Nike+ graphs of my runs but don't know yet if this updates itself or whether I have to copy across a new code for it to update. I don't use the Nike+ for all my runs but generally do use it for my longer runs as I listen to music or podcasts so might as well log the miles. I haven't found it to be particularly accurate, somedays are better than others but at times it has seemed to be as much as 10% out. I would love to have a Garmin or some other reliable GPS to accurately measure my runs but can't really justify the expense at the moment.


I do have a heart rate monitor which I used for the first time for a long time on Tuesday. It is just the basic Polar FS1 so it provides real time heart rate measurement and calulates your average heart rate at the end of the workout. For my 12km run on Tuesday my average heart rate was 155. I have never accurately worked out my maximum heart rate. I have worked off the basic 220 minus your age which would give me a maximum heart rate of 179 but I am sure I can get it higher than that. Hopefully over the course of some of my speed work, I will also workout my maximum heart rate. My resting heart rate is around 48 which is pretty good although it would be great if it was lower which it should be by April.






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