A couple of weeks ago I got a book out of the library, Be A Better Runner by Sally Edwards, Carl Foster and Roy Wallack. Over the past few years I really have been working on that, and there has been a definite improvement with all the things I've tried, but I'm still not good enough to stop myself from getting injured, nor to run any faster than slowly, nor to run comfortably for a long period of time, and seeing as the Vibram Tarawera Ultra Marathon will be over 25 weeks today, I thought it was about time to really get to work on being that better runner.
I've been using my Heart Rate as a guide to improving my cardio fitness for some time, and it definitely worked, (but then I've been out with injury and lost a lot of what I gained!) but Sally's book clarified some misconceptions, so I've reset my Garmin accordingly. (Well, I think I've done it properly!) Currently my Heart Rate Zones are: zone 1 - 98 to 114 bpm; zone 2 - 114 to 130 bpm; zone 3 - 130 to 147 bpm; zone 4 - 147 to 163 bpm; zone 5 - 163 to 185 bpm, with this last zone actually split into 3 sections. Unfortunately there's no room on my Garmin to have more than 5 zones, so I just have to remember that if my HR goes above 163 bpm, my 80% of max threshold, (which it rather sadly does a lot) then I either need to get it below again very quickly, or push it up to over 171 bpm to avoid training in The Black Hole! Apparently, this small window of only 8bpm is too high to benefit aerobic improvements but not high enough to benefit cardiovascular strength, which helps with endurance.
So, armed, literally, with my trusty Garmin, and my Chi Running app on my trusty iPhone, (for the metronome which keeps my cadence at 180 steps a minute, and reminds me of body position focuses) I set off this morning on my 12km Long Run/Walk around my local neighbourhood. I'd kept the hills to a minimum, but we do live in a fairly hilly spot so it's actually quite difficult to avoid a few inclines, although when you look at the elevation profile it seems pretty flat. Shame it doesn't feel it when I'm running! My workout was set at 1km walk to warm up in zone 2, followed by intervals of 1km run in zone 4 and 0.5km recovery walk in zone 2, finishing with a nice gentle 1km cool down in zone 2, 12km in total. Easy? Not nearly as easy as I envisaged! I really did think that with all those walk breaks, letting my HR go back down to below 130 bpm, I'd have no difficulty running with my HR below 163 bpm. Ah well, you live and learn. Even when I started walking it took quite a while for my HR to come down, and when I started running it didn't take very long for it to zip back up :-( I think some tweaks to my workout are required if it's going to be the Long Slow Run I need it to be for my training schedule.
My Garmin stats for today
On a brighter note, the new orthotics in my shoes seem to be doing a good job in helping my tib post injury - no twinges in my arch at all :-) Unfortunately, the raise that I also have in my right shoe, underneath the orthotics, to counteract my one-leg-shorter-than-the-other problem, leaves not quite as much room as I would like for my foot! I can feel a bunion coming on, heaven preserve me!
Not sure if I'll work out tomorrow. Only something very gentle if I do. My glutes certainly need a bit of TLC - 3 hours in the gym yesterday followed by my not so easy run today and they're definitely letting me know they've been working. Which is actually a very good thing as they need to be working a lot better than they have been doing if my tib post is going to get better, and if I'm finally going to be able to say goodbye to ITB problems.
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