Friday, March 13, 2009

Questionable Disaster

Thursday: no running. feeling sick with cold-like symptoms. in the past when i have ignored them the sickness got worse. a day off in March will not affect me too bad come June.

Friday: 
 Yesterday I was supposed to do my first "steady state" workout. I have studied all the zones for HR and estimated paces. It didn't seem right when I looked at it but didn't question it. Once I completed the warm up I zipped up the speed to what I 'estimated' the pace would be. After a couple of minutes I realized quickly that the set speed was too much to continue. I shifted from pace to HR and was going to attempt to keep it at 155 bpm. At this point I didn't have a reason for that number, just a HR that felt comfortable for up to 30 minutes. The splits show that I fell apart rather quickly. 
There are three factors that could play into this small disaster. One, I'm sick. I feel a bit better than yesterday, but not a lot. Second, this workout was on the treadmill and our house was at 65F and once you warmed up I had the feeling it was 80! Lastly, I may have not had the correct pace/HR figured in advance. That is my job to get the zones in order prior to workout based on my estimated fitness level. 
Tomorrow is an easy day and will be just letting the legs turn and flush out.

Splits: 3 mile warm up 23:36
Steady miles: 1st mile: 6:09  HR:155
                           2nd mile: 6:12 HR:157
                          3rd mile: 6:17  HR: 158
                          4th mile: 6:19  HR: 159 (stitch)
*my HR max is 170
Cool down: 3 miles 24:00

Totals: 1:12:48  10 miles

2 comments:

SteveQ said...

I think you misjudged this workout. You wanted a HR that felt comfortable for 30 minutes and you managed 25 - close enough, especially given that it was at 90% of your max HR. Your pace slowed consistently and only 10 seconds per mile - not really a crash. Looks to me like a 4 mile run at half-marathon pace, which is a good solid run.

Gregg said...

That's one way of looking at it Steve. Thanks.
I was looking at it from the perspective of having different plans going into the workout and having to make an adjustment quickly without knowing what system I was stressing. For some reason, it was stated as Steady State, approx. 1/2 - 30K speed, and a HR of approx 83%-88% max. Those two numbers do not match for me.
I guess it was an ok workout otherwise.
Gregg