Trail Monster Running

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

Tiring Road Run

The plan for today was to get in 22 miles on the roads of Falmouth starting with the Maine Track Club group that meets every Saturday at the Freaky Bean (formerly known as Maine Roasters Coffee). Emma decided on the distance, I came up with a route and Jim decided to up his mileage and join us. The route consisted of two loops, to allow others to join us for the first 10 miles, and then we continued on for another longer loop. For a road run we encountered an abundance of wildlife: 5 dear, a fox, cardinals, woodpecker and a hawk.

I discovered today that, contrary to what I thought two days ago, I have not fully recovered from last week's 30 miler at snowy Bradbury. Not that I felt too bad during the run, but it was harder work than I was expecting and it left me feeling pretty wiped out. This could also have something to do with the hills we encountered, not that they were particularly big but consistently rolling which required a fair amount of effort. I think the elevation profile tends to over-dramatize the hills, but it is representative of the lack of flatness on these roads.


My average heart rate for the run seems pretty high at 168, a few weeks ago I did a 16 mile road run at a 7:44 pace and my heart rate was only 159. Todays pace was a much easier 8:36 so I would have expected my heart rate to be lower. Perhaps someone out there who has more experience tracking their heart rate can tell me what this means. I suspect it means that I need to take it easy for the next few weeks to make sure I'm feeling fresh for my 50 miler.

At least my ankle felt good.

time: 3:12:47
distance: 22.4 miles
pace: 8:36
heart rate:168/189

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a good pace for not racing. I find that my heart rate gives me good feedback for when I am tired (not lack of sleep, but too many miles or hard work outs) or am coming down with something. I usually turn the dial down and run by my heart rate rather than my planned pace. This is not always easy when you are running with others. So, if I was you, which I am not, I would try to keep the lid on from here on out. Your body will thank you.

From your humble older crash and burn expert....tc

Blaine Moore said...

Yeah, it's your body telling you that it's tired and a little rest would be beneficial.

Make sure to give it plenty of fuel, and I recommend not going for anything that long next weekend.

How was the wind in Falmouth? I considered heading down, but really didn't want to drive anywhere today. Instead, I did late morning hill repeats near the house.

Anonymous said...

To elaborate a tad more on how I undertake my long runs, I try to stay below 70% of max:

(MHR-RHR)*70% + RHR

I do not stop and walk if I go over (what John Parker recommends you do). I ease off just enough to let my HR settle down.

Enjoy!