I ran by heart rate. When I got back and checked my data - heart rate looked fine - 81% of max. But I noticed that my pace was 30 seconds slower than Tuesday's pace on the same route- 10:16 versus 9:45. Hmm. Let's see here. Fast on Tuesday. Heart rate running away on Wednesday. Slow on Thursday. Sore on Friday. I'm glad today is a rest day!
Here's what I think is happening. I'm exercising at a rate that it foreign to my body. Perhaps even pushing a little too hard. Three out of the last four months have been 140 miles or more, and the one month that didn't hit 140 was 136. Right now I'm clipping along at a 180 mile pace for this month. Last week's 43 miles burned about 6000 calories. This week's 44 miles will do the same. I've dropped about 3 pounds in the last two weeks. That pretty much means that I'm not even close to putting back in what I'm using. If I do this too long I'll break. It's still early in this training cycle. I think it's time to slow down a little. Run my recovery and general aerobic runs at a little lower heart rate for a couple of weeks.
When I think about where I was just a few months ago, it is really amazing what this old fart can do. It just sucks getting old!
maybe you were sore from two days ago. have you heard about that...how you can sometimes not show symptoms of soreness for two days because its something or other with the muscles. I learned about during track...sorry i dont know more about it!
ReplyDeleteAs my dear old dad used to say...."Die young or grow old". I think you're doing okay. More than OKAY! There are people our age who are living out their lives in hospitals and nursing homes. Seriously....I used to work in rehab and see it ALL the time. And here you are the picture of health and vitality (give or take a sore day here or there!) Have a great one! Christine
ReplyDeleteA case of DOMS, for sure! As for the getting old part, think of this: what were your folks doing when they were your age? Mine certainly weren't running marathons. They were "slowing down." We're just getting started.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, sometimes sore is good. And you lost three pounds? Now that makes me sore since I haven't lost one yet!
ReplyDeletei agree with your conclusion. in my opinion (for what it's worth) hr training is really good at letting you know when you need to take it slow and easy on your body, and that's what i think this is. you've really been stepping it up lately (even just in increasing the mileage/consistency) and i wouldn't doubt it if you needed a few days easy! happy 4th and have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteHey Glenn- what do you think of this article when you get a chance? I'm hanging out over at newbie triathlon's and was just reading this article (trying to figure out some things about my running) Anyway- is this along the lines of your philosophy for running/preparing for the marathon? Curious in FL....
ReplyDeleteOh yeah....forgot to paste the URL.. http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_running/tno_runarticle_09.asp heh heh...
ReplyDelete