I realize that I have been starting my runs too cold and too fast. Halfway into the run, I would be depleted of energy and suffer. I slowed down, watched my heart
Today’s (Thursday) run was great. I decided to follow heart rate only. First 2 miles I did not let my HR get above 80%. The last mile I picked it up and in the last ½ mile was at a fast pace and then afterwards was hardly spent at all. The funny thing is my HR on the fast last ½ mile barely got above 90%. I realized I have been starting out TOO TOO fast and losing all energy by mile 2 or 3. Of course, my time was high (38 min) for 3.1 miles, but my energy was great. I’ll follow this strategy for the 6-miler on Sunday
I am also finding out that the generic HR max formula (220-age) is not applicable to all people. I did some tempo stuff on Thursday and it got to 103% of my max, but I felt no effects of that—i.e. I didn’t feel I was about to explode.
So I am assuming my max HR is more than 180.
This Running Life 