Was it as good for you as it was for me?....intervals!!!

Running intervals and calculating HRM (A beginners guide!!!)

April 10^th – Hope to do 1 mile warmup and then ½ mile at 3.25 pace. 2 minute recovery and then repeat ½ mile run again. Might do 3 in total (if I can manage it!!!). 2 mile jog home. I need to replace my heart monitor as the last one i dropped while doing the Rome marathon. (It was that kind of day!!) I am probably running my runs in the incorrect pace zones especially recovery  and long runs. From what I gather the idea is that running at the correct pace will eventually lead to your heart rate dropping and your heart becoming more efficient. Also running long runs at correct pace aids recovery which in turns allows you to go running more often etc etc. See below table from Pfitz

Recovery Runs @70%	Hr less than 142 HRM	Max HR 182	Run long runs 9.36  with  2nd half up to 8.48
Long runs	135 to 153	Resting HR 50
Lactate Threshold	150 to 167

April 11^th- Running intervals

Wednesday morning-Still off work. Left house at 8.00 am. Rang 1.2 miles to the Railway road at approx 8.00 pace. Ran ½ mile with 2 minute recovery. Conscious to keep the effort all the way through. Ran another ½ mile with 2 minute recovery. Did 3 more of these. The last one was the toughest as at that stage I was facing a small pull on the Cork road hard shoulder. Jogged the last 2 miles back home at 8.30-9.00 pace. Feel quite fresh afterwards. I was quite happy with how my workout went. I was apprehensive as how it would go and I was happy to see i could complete a set of 5 with reasonably even splits. Will do another set of 5 next week. I might keep at 5 for a few weeks. Not too sure how I while progress after that. The idea is that within 4 weeks i should my speed increase and my recovery improve. In otherwords my aerobic capacity improves as my heart, lungs and muscles are able to adapt.

Around mid-day the left ankle was feeling a bit tender but nothing serious. Spent a couple of hours driving that day and walking around Mahon Point and that didn’t help matters.

Around 5pm I jogged a recovery 3 miles around the park. A “friend” of mine is interested in starting running so I am trying to help them get started on a 5K plan.It suits me to use it as a recovery session. (Total miles for the day 9.2) Splits for ½ mile were as follows (6.40 pace,  6.34 pace, 6.30 pace, 6.38 pace, 6.50 pace)

April 12^th

Got up and out the door at 8.15 am. Hummed and hawed as I tend to do about weather to go out of not. Of course I ended up going out!! I tend to under go this type of struggle a lot - usually if running 3-4 days in a row or after a long day at work. More often than not I end up running . I am sure this struggle is part of all training cycles for runners of all abilities. Did 7 miles. Legs were heavy for the first 4 miles but felt strong for the last 3 miles. Ran at 7.51 pace. Ran up Love Lane and back down (1.7 miles). Did 2 ½ laps of town park  (under 1.5 miles). Then ran up and down to railway rd and back home (4 miles). Felt v fresh again but probably a mile too long and slighty too fast. (total miles for the day 7)