Tag Archives: heart rate monitor

Run in the heat

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Since I didn’t manage to go yesterday I promised myself I would today no matter what. Well the morning wore on and I kept finding myself saying, ok after this. Ok after this. And again, ok after this. Pretty soon it was getting into the afternoon and the heat was rising. Well I say heat was rising but it was only getting to about 70, hot for Portland as of late. Tomorrow to the 80s! I’ll believe it when I feel it.

So by 2 I hadn’t eaten lunch and was kicking myself for not running. Then I realized, well a hot run won’t be the best of conditions, but the what the heck. I am going anyway. I wolfed down a clif bar to hold me over, grabbed my seasonally neglected water bottle and ran out the door. The day was just gorgeous but the sweat quickly began to sting my eyes. Wipe it away and keep going, though I. So I did. I decided on doing 6 miles, not fast nor slow. My HR was pretty high throughout, I definitely need to work that back down. I am sure as my fitness level picks up, the old heart rate will drop compared to my efforts.

The water bottle was just what I needed. Over the winter I had forgotten what it takes to keep the hydration level up. Small sips every quarter mile or so really helped. No heat would stop me today! I actually went fairly routinely. I didn’t make it all the way up the hill out of the canyon, but that is nothing new. New features in the canyon, several trees have fallen this winter. The people who maintain the canyon have a fairly hands off approach to managing it and they leave trees that fall (sometimes they get around to cutting out a portion that has fallen over the path). This makes for great parkour obstacles. One of them scared me and I had to climb over it. The path was especially skinny there and there was a huge spur sticking out. Probably a good choice to not leap it!

Back to Portland

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Well my plans to run all over Northern Arizona fell through. I was skeptical that i would have too much time to run there as I knew my time would be restricted with all the family and graduation activities. I did think I would at least get to hit the roads through town remembering my past. But alas, I brought my shoes and gear for naught. Oh well.

So back in Portland my first run in the NW was a doosy. Perhaps it was to combat another week of no running (too many of those for me in recent months). My run was not insane, only eight slow miles, but I did it at such a high heart rate that I am classifying it as a quality run and maybe it will even kick start me into getting back into a HR training mode. If so then I need to do a recovery run today (and that is the plan.)

I am not totally sure why the run was so hard, like I said it was slow. The HR hovered over 170 for long stretches and was over 180 for some more difficult parts (ha, gradual inclines…) My avg HR was 160, probably as high as I have ever seen it outside of a race (maybe even higher…) I often thought about stopping for a break but I forged ahead and continued to push it for which I am glad now (despite my still sore body, well this also had to do with the yard work I did yesterday instead of doing my recovery run.) But I am still tired…

Almost perfect recovery run

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I really buckled down today to take my recovery runs seriously. While I was doing my whole warm up run I kept my HR under my recovery ceiling of 144 (or so I thought, actually I hit 145 in the first mile according to my Garmin). So since I thought I was “perfect” in my recovery run I worked hard to keep the HR low. Mostly I had it around 130 or lower, I really slowed down. I even made it up lower reed’s hill under 144. As I crossed the bridge over the canyon I heard what turned out to be an organized rugby game with a pretty large crowd and as it turned out two guys playing catch with lacrosse equipment who wouldn’t move over and let me by. So, my HR shot up to 151 and my perfection run was blown. Still I got it back down and on my way to trader jos. From there a mile home with my purchases of two bags; one of cooking greens and the other a bag of kettle corn (balancing “good for you” with bad…) It was an interesting juggling act getting them home.

Over all my HR averaged 135, so a very successful recovery run. My avg pace was 11:45, so super slow. I think I could do this pace for the full 26.2, the question is will I be happy with a five hour time? I think I need to pick up my pace a bit.

Recovery, not recovery

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Today’s run was weird. Seven miles of junk. Blew past my recovery ceiling and stayed in the high 150s for the majority of my run. I tried a couple of times to bring it down, but 150 or so was about the lowest I could bring myself despite running really slowly – 11:30 pace.

So I have to wonder where this is coming form, two runs last week were like this as well. Is it over training? I don’t think so as even though I have been pushing it on most of my quality runs I have had several 3 or 4 day breaks recently. I don’t have an injury but I have been feeling it in my hamstrings and glutes. Using a foam roller has really helped there. My feet have been bothering me, but I don’t think it is getting in the way of running to any effect.

I will have to think on this more.

Oh, the pool. After running this morning I added on a good workout for the arms and shoulder. Empty a pool with three buckets. The third bucket is used to fill the pair. Then I lift up one full bucket and use it to balance myself while I lift the second. Then I empty them around the yard. Great workout.

Cold wet volcano run

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My running partner (I should say partners as her dog, a strapping Irish Setter always comes too) and I took a slow recovery type hill run up to the top of Mt. Tabor and back. The goal was to keep the entire run under our recovery ceiling of 70% max ( my HR at 143 and hers a bit higher at 147). We did pretty good except for the climbing, but even then my HR only maxed at 151. The last two miles of cool down were all under as we plodded back. The rains came right as we got back to my house, all in all a lot calmer weather-wise than was predicted, though I was looking forward to lightning strikes.

I have to say I am liking the G2 as a recovery drink. I think I’ll like the orange mix better than the fruit punch. I really wish they made it without any coloring, the fruit punch is really deep red, it looks like red ink. But I really like the low calories and sugar. I also like that the powders mix really quickly and thoroughly. I have been mixing with more water than they suggest, goes perfectly in my big plastic ice tea tumblers.

Apparently there has been some problem with G2 stock levels. The only flavors I have seen in the powders has been fp and  grape. Even online. The only flavor Fred Meyers has is the fp.

440 interval workout

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Today I did one of the more difficult workouts that I ever do, the dreaded 440 interval workout! As part of my efforts to add more quality runs alternating with recovery runs, I headed to the track this morning. I have been somewhat lame this week and took the last two days off, so a tough run was in the stars for me. As I headed down the street for the track, I remembered I had to send a next day air letter out today so I headed back, grabbed the envelope and sped off toward s the UPS store. This added some steps to my run, but essentially it was equivalent to my normal route to the track, only backwards.

Right from the start my HR was pretty high, but so was my pace. I had a good wind at my back so that was helping. It really wasn’t the sort of gradual warm up that I had intended to begin with. But the temp was cool and I figured if I got the HR up before I got to the track that would be ok, basically like doing another set of intervals, just not as structured. I was a little concerned with being to tired to do a full set of six 440s, but I was willing to be flexible.

The track was empty except for a couple of walkers and runners. I did some additional warm-up and then picked up my pace for the first 440. I didn’t go all out like I do on the straights and curves, after all I had to do a full lap for my 440, but I got it going pretty well. Turned out I spent most of my time right around 7 minute miles, sometimes less, more often closer to 7:30, but a good pace none the less. My HR on the intervals got up around 180 or so at first, then down to 150 or so on my 220 recovery. That was basically my pattern, full lap of 85-95%+ and then a half lap of recovery with the goal of bring my HR down as much as possible.

The max heart rate that I have been working with is 184. I got this number from a formula (205-(age/2)) that is supposedly reasonably accurate for most people with the caveat that I might discover changes in that over time. The highest I have ever seen my HR has been 183. Even though I felt I wasn’t really going all out when I saw it, I know I couldn’t keep that up for long. When I saw it the first time during the Shamrock Run it sort of freaked me out a bit, especially since I was feeling sick then. So, I have always wondered if 183 was my actual max. Today I saw 186 twice on the intervals, so I am going to have to say “NO” to 183. Even at 186 I still felt I could give more and that is what the max is all about. Still makes me a little concerned to be working so hard at such a hard level. The ghost of my  father who had heart trouble follows me even though he was over weight and definitely not a runner. But genes are genes. I had taken a half an aspirin beforehand, so that always makes me feel more confident that I am not going to die! Also, I hear in teh news that I can now eat a small amount of dark chocolate once a day as medicine for my heart and stroke prevention. Sounds good to me!