Thursday 28 April 2011

La Jillian's 6 Week 6 Pack tonight. I can't help thinking it's a very ambitious claim. 

The hardest thing was that I let Buzz use my yoga mat so I was trying to get grip on a beach towel on a rug on a wooden floor. Slipipippery. I didn't feel my abs at all - but I hope I will tomorrow because I caught sight of my gut in the mirror a few times and it needs some suction (or 'incineration' as Jillian lovingly described it). But it was only Level 1 so there must be some burn to come.

Pecs and hammies are v sore after yesterday's Shred. Good.

Wednesday 27 April 2011

I thought a short, sharp run might be in order this morning. Instead I got a short, sharp pain the back of my calf. Relax, relax, it’s not career-threatening.

 

Having been focussing heavily on time on my feet and endurance lately, I think that I’ve extended my distance and time significantly more than my speed. By way of comparison, whereas last time I was running 40/45 minutes was an outside time, it’s now the norm. Also, I now think 5km is a short-ish run instead the pinnacle of my achievements. However, whereas I used to run at a base pace of 7.5km/hr, moving up to 8km/hr, I now consider 8.5km/hr my base speed. Not such an improvement.

 

So I trotted off at 9km/hr for five minutes, and then increased to 9.5km/hr, intending to just do a 20 minute speed run. I felt great! Flying, pounding it out, and tiring in a positive, of-course-I-can-make-it way. At about 17.5 minutes I felt a weird feeling in my upper left calf, which I tried to run through but couldn’t. I paused, stretched, and continued, only to grimace in a very unattractive way and have to stop. It felt like a twist or a wrench rather than a tear, perhaps like some tendon wriggling into the wrong position. I felt good in the leg otherwise and did about 22ish minutes on the cross-trainer and then elliptical (15 plus 6ish) without any problems. It feels pretty good now (3:30pm) so I’ll give it a rest tomorrow, get stuck into weights tonight and tomorrow, and assume that all will be dandy on Friday.

Later
30 Day Shred. Level 1, Day 1. Use 3kg weights. So hardcore (me I mean). 
It was tough-ish but I could def do it more full throttle. I was just holding back my biceps and shouldery muscles of steel.  

Shiny shiny

Now don't laugh, but as I ran 7.6km outside today (o'er hill, o'er dale), I am proud enough to return to this blog to let my many legions of adoring fans know about it. 

What has driven the return to running? A hint, dear readers-plural ... it's shiny and sparkly and it lives on the fourth finger of my left hand. And the end result will be me walking down the aisle in front of 150 people in less than four months. 

We got engaged in September last year but serious fitness efforts didn't ensue until January (except for an abortive late-night walk disgustedly inspired by a picture from our engagement party in which I quite genuinely looked like I had shoved a beach ball up my dress). Since then the running has taken off - my regular tready run is 6km at 8.5km/hr, three times a week. My indoor record for 6km is 41:54, and my best over 45 minutes is 6.4km. I have done 3.03km in 20 minutes; 4.14kmin 30 minutes (I reckon I could beat that now); 5km in 35:16; and 8km in 56:29. Outside, I am even speedier. I knooooow!!! I have done our outside run of 5km in 32:30; 3.2km in 22:10 (could easily smash that now); 3.5km in 24:20; 5.6km in 39:40; 6km in 41:14; and today 7.6km in 52:09. I am so awesome I can't believe the Olympic selectors haven't rung yet. 

So the upshot is that I can now run faster, stronger, harder, ooh, ahh, than I ever have before. I've signed up for the 8km Mother's Day Classic on 8 May (Mothers' Day!) to run with Buzz's cousin.  

And it's time for some weights. I have got Jillian Michaels' DVDs 30 Day Shred (which is a cult classic even though it's from 1997 when The Rachel was hot) and 6 Week 6 Pack which is particularly pointed given the beachball incident. I also ... dah dah dah daaah ... semi-signed up for a 12 week weights challenge in which I publicly (through anonymously) committed to doing 5-6 weights sessions a week, sticking to 1300 cals net per day, upping myprotein from 60g to 100g per day, and maintaining 5-6 runs a day. Haven't quite worked out how to do this yet. Details, details. It will be done. 

Efforts so far have been good. One dress size, 9 cms off my waist in 11 weeks and around 9 off my hips, and a whole lotta clothes reinvigorated after banishment for shrinking (hah!). I have some goals for the next 16 weeks and goddammit, is it too much to ask to be the hottest woman in the room on my wedding day? Even if I have to hack off my guests' hair? No, I don't think so. 

12 weeks. Suck it up.

Tuesday 18 May

Hmmmm ... I think I cross-trained. I know I went to the gym. I'm sure I must have run a little bit.

Thursday 20 May

Tired, still sick and cranky. I gave myself 20 minutes to run. And look what I made!

Minutes        Speed km/hr

0-8.5              8.5 

8.5 - 18.5      9.5

18.5 - 20       8.5

2.97km. Av speed 9.

Yes that's right. 10 minutes at 9.5 km/hr. And it was gooood. Fast, but totally doable and I could have easily done to the end. I'm excited because I accidentalyl hit 9.5 instead of 9, and I even thought that was pushing it. I'm faster than I think.

Then there was 15 hard elliptical minutes, and a five minute run:

Minutes        Speed km/hr

0-1                 12

1-2                  8

3-5                  10

12 was impossible. So, so hard. I felt like a doofus.

Monday 17 May

Minutes   Speed (km/hr)

0-5             8

5-10           8.5

10-15         8

15-25         8.5

25              30

Av sp: ?? Forgot to check. 4.10 km (hmmmm). HR still on blink, but high-ish.

Felt slow at 8km/hr, but the end of the 10 minutes at 8.5km/hr tiiiired me. Tired at the end, but felt I could do 5 minute sections considtently over 5km.

Now where was I up to? I'll try to reconstruct.

We last left our hero on Tuesday 4 May.

Wednesday was a welcome rest day to rest the old glut med.

Thursday 6 May
A cross-training day, including two (?) 15 minute runs at about 8km/hr. Anyway, it was a 500 cal burn. There was some reason that it was hard to make myself go but I can't remember.

Friday 7 May
A run at a new gym. Very proud of myself for making it after a mammoth shopping effort. (I was home sick. But I got better and then bored).

Minutes     Speed       Incline
0-10          8km/hr      0
10-20        8.5            0
20-25        8               0
25-30        8.5            0

Good strong run, despite sore legs at the beginning.

  


And then: a long rest. Slack weekend. Nothing Monday. On Tuesday I was suffering a post-over-solarium painful burn.

But the four days off were great. My glute med really improved, and when I hopped back on the tready on Wednesday my legs felt fresher than they had in a long time. No ankle tendon strain, no calf tightness, and overall a really, really enjoyable run, both physically and mentally.

Wednesday 12 May
Minutes     Speed       Incline
0-10          8km/hr      0
10-20        8.5            0
20-25        8               0
25-30        8.5            0

Followed it with 10 minutes of hard work on the elliptical.


Friday 14 May
Yesterday was a rest - and I don't begrudge it because my gltue med is holding up well.
Today I did a cross-training session, thinking that I will run outside on the weekend. I included 15 minutes of runnign at 8.5km/hr in the middle of a 45 minute session, which felt good and strong. I'll be including more 8.5km/hr blcoks in my 30 minute or 5km runs.  

Having only managed two runs last week, which I only just realised (so that's the point of a training log!) I am less surprised at my deconditioning which was painfully evident this morning. I had kinda forgotten just how bad last week was. 

Again, my stupid lack of exercise on Friday set me up for a no-sweat weekend. I already knew Saturday was out, my schedule being chockers, and Sun proved similar. 

Monday 3 May 2010

On Monday night I returned to the gym. 15 minutes into my run the following things had happened:

• I removed my HRM. It was at 00 again and I have finally noticed the empty battery it's showing me. 
• Obviously the HRM chest strap had been providing some support to the girls, because once it was gone the extra bounciness was apparent. I knew my bra straps had slipped, but the lack of chest elastic was a bit too much. It didn't hurt, but seeing myself bouncing along at an alarming level of bounce in the glass in front of the tready was too disconcerting.

So I hopped off, peed, wrenched up the bra straps and hopped on the elliptical. I did 15 hard minutes, and then 15 hard minutes on the ski-type machine. Feeling I could really pound it home, and also feeling the weight of guilt that an alcohol-sodden weekend can inspire, I ran another 15 minutes. Total calori burn was probably about 1000 based on previous similar workouts, so even though my 30 minute run was not continuous, it was at least interspliced with another 30 minutes of heart-thumping work, and this was in fact my longest work out in a while (meaning that often when I'm at the gym for 60 minutes that's 40 minutes of working out and 20 minutes of misc/assorted). 

This morning: back to it. But softly. I didn't want to push myself, knowing I'd been a bit slack (but not really realising just how slack). 

In other, crappy news my tendinopathy of the glute med is back on the LHS. I can feel it and it hurts. I did my exercises again this morning for the first time in ages and will be faithfully performing them daily.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

30 minutes at 8km/hr, 0% (after 5 minute warm up). Then, because I had time, 1km at 8.5% (probably a 30 second break in between the two sessions. Kinda like stopping at the lights outside - it totally counts as one run, ok?).

Yes slack. It was harder than it should have been given where I was at two weeks ago, but still not too awful. And I did enjoy it so tick for that. No HR or accurate cals because of battery-lifeless HRM, but presumably around 480 cals for the first 30 minutes and about 100 for the last k (7 minutes).

Thursday 29 April

Time      Speed km/hr       Incline %

0-15       8                             0.5

15-20      8                             1

20-25      8                             0.5

25-30      8                             1

Average speed: 8km/hr. Average incline: 0.6%. 4km (what is this 3.98 they say? Because it took me ten seconds to increase the speed when the tready started? Pshaw. Mazx HR: 194bpm. Average HR: 181bpm.

I found the 1% noticeable different. Leg muscles worked differently and harder.When I wnt back down to 0.5% I noticed it. But: I think I can go 10 minutes at 1%, and when I can run 5km at 1% I know I'll be able to do it outside, because whereas outside might go up more than 1%, it also goes down!

Wednesday 28 April 2010

 

Shhh! Can you hear that? It's the sound of silence. It's the sound of me not running.

It started off reasonably. Even though I have myself Wednesday off last week for soreness, I was still sore on Thursday so gave myself Friday too. Which turned into Saturday, Sunday and public holiday Monday. Unable to sleep until 1am on Monday night, I happily ditched the 6am planned start, only to realise in the morning that I had a meeting on the evening and a team lunch - so no run Tuesday. 

This morning was tough. I didn't want to go easy, but found I couldn't go hard either. After 13 minutes at 8km/hr, which had been going ok, I got a stitch. I usually run through them, but this one was over my whole upper chest and when I realised I wasn't breathing properly - ragged, not full lungs, painful, gasping - I stopped. I meant to pause, but I stopped. 

I hopped on the elliptical for 15 hard minutes where I pumped up the resistance to try to add some strength to my legs. Then 15 on the tready again - 8km, but with a 1% incline after 7 minutes or so. A trainer stopped to talk to me. No talk! Run only! Gasp! Gasp! Dad came to say goodbye. Gasp! Gasp! 

The last few minutes were hugely tough. My HR was in the 195bpm range and I was counting time. When I stopped I could barely stand up, and then ... I was sure the Spew Express was coming. I made it to the toilets asap, and although nothing upchucked, I was satisfied that I'd worked hard. 

Back to a simple run tomorrow. No stats because the HRM was fairly sure my heart wasn't beating again.

Tuesday 20 April 2010

Mins       Speed km/hr

0-10        8

10-20      8.5

20-25      9

25-28      8

28-30      9

4.18km. Average speed 8.4km/hr. Max HR: 205bpm. Average 178bpm. 404 cals. 

Max HR whaaaa? I don't think that's right. I didn't see any more than about 194bpm.  

The 9km/hr portion was hard. I probably could have managed 10 mins, but my legs were sore all the way through the run, and my glutes - around the sides - were pinched and tight. A day off tomorrow is a good idea. 

Oh blergh. I gave myself Friday off, intending to do a massive 10km on Saturday. I did get up, put on gym clothes etc and was all ready to go, until I realised I had forgotten to charge my iPod. Therefore no run! Intentions to do it later that day collapsed after emergency vet trip inspired by wasp sting (he's fine). 

Sunday was just too full of post-dinner party food and beer. 

This morning I still had the undigested food baby in my belly. Nonetheless, I ran. It was a little tougher after three days off, and my max HR is a little high, but I got through it and felt that the sweat was a good antidote to the weekend.

Monday 19 April 2010

5km, 37:30mins, average speed 8km/hr (maintained all the way through). Max HR 195bpm. Average HR 178bpm (but take these as approxes; once again the Polar registered no heartbeat for quite a while. Ditto cals - recorded as 434 but really should be higher).

Thursday 15 April 2010

Stuckered yesterday. Got to the gym at 7am - on the train too, not in the nice warm car - and the lifts weren't working. There is no other way in, and by the time I'd waited ten minutes and realised that time was marching on, I had to leave. Resolving to run at lunch, I ended up goinghom e feverish, which just proves my theory that you should exercise first thing before the day has a chance to stuff you up!

This morning: 5km

Km                 Km/hr

0-3.5               8

3.5-4.5            8.5

4.5-5               9

Total time: 36:54. Average speed: 8.4km/hr. Max HR: 195bpm. Average HR: 182bpm. 510 cals.

Purdy noice, eh? 

Also makes me think that the trady is calibrated slow. I'm sure I ran slower outside - including my shameful walk breaks - for more or less the same time. 

Anyway, it was a good run. Felt good at 8km/hr and comfortable.

Tuesday 13 April 2010


Grrr argh. Two days no run. Determined to do a good 5km. Warm up. HRM registers 0bpm. Get off. Go to bathroom. Re-wet sensors. Works. Back on tready. 15 minutes. 0bpm. Then works. Annoying. Keep going.


About 3.8km in. Running well. 8km/hr. Nice pace. Feel good. Good rhythm. Tready stops. All info wiped. 


Get back on for 1.2km.Set tready to 9km/hr. Tough but good. Keep fiddling with controls. Up speed. Accidentally also up distance. Run 1.33km. Run a few minutes at 10km/hr. HR 196bpm. 


Net result: HRM info unreliable. Run info not available. 

Approx 5.13km. MAX HR approx 196bpm. Total time approax 36-37 minutes. 

Saturday 10 April 2010

Outside, route 4 - along The Boulevard to Heidelberg Road, then left up to the 7-11 and back again. It's 5km with one small hill. 

And it still took me 37 minutes. And. It. Was. Hard. 

After turnaround by the time I got back on The Boulevard I was shuffling like a 93 year old with two arthritic hips and asthma. I had a couple of walk breaks on the way back. No more than 30 secs, but shame!

Max HR 193bpm. Av HR 179bpm. Cals 500.

Good points though: my average speed was 8.1km/hr. It was the longest time and distance I've ever run outside. And next time I'm sure I can make it up the hill.

Thursday 8 April

Soo-ooo-ooore after the 45 minute long run on Monday. Ankle tendons felt strained, legs tired. I had a light, low-impact gym session on Tuesday and had a rest day on Wednesday. 

Today I was determined to pump out a fast run, spurred on by Miss Nickii's 5km in 26 minutes, something I am nowhere near. 

I did a ten  minute warmp up, walking for 5 and runnnign at 7.5km/hr for 5. This is better than my usual 5 minute walk; it gets the initial pain and grumping out of the way. 

Minutes              Speed

0-1                        8.5

1-2.5?                   8

2.5?-15                 8.5

15-20                     8

20-30                     8.5

Average speed: 8.4km/hr.4.17km. 428 cals. Max HR 195bpm. Av HR183bpm. 

Hard! I loved the first rnu at 8.5km/hr; I felt srtong and like I was running. By 4 minutes of the second set at 8.5km/hr, I didn't think I could make it to the end, and if wasn't for Guns'n'Roses I wouldn't have. My high average HR shows it. I've never run that long at 8.5 before; it still really feels like a lot faster than 8.

No point buggering about, here's the stats

Sat 27 Mar

35 mins run outside on Route 1 (Boulevard, Heidelberg Road, Lwr H'berg Rd). Includes one mother of a hill. About 3.3 km. Average speed about 7.9km/hr.

Max HR 191bpm; average HR 172bpm.

Ahh but. When I measured the route on mapmyrun.com I put it in as miles, and spent daaaaays depressed that I had taken 25 minutes to run 2km. Bwahaha! I couldn't actually walk that slow if I tried. It really knocked me about a bit ... especially cos it took me a long time - like weeks - to realise that I had flipped the distance measurement switch. 

• What a nuffy. 

Sun 28 March

An easy (but trying to get out of the gym fast) 35 minutes at 7.5km/hr.

4.375km (I mean why? Just tell me 4.4km).

HR max 182bpm; average HR 162bpm.

•  felt good and easy pace. Great max HR.

Wednesday 31 March

Minutes         Speed

0-5                  7.5

5-15                8

15-30              8.5

Average speed 8.1km/hr. HR max 184bpm; average HR 167bpm. 4.04km

• Max HR good. 

Friday 2 April outside

Determined to beat my last time, still confusedly thinking that it was 2km not 2 miles, I ran route 1 in 21.51mins, which is a staggering - staggering! - average of 9.2km/hr. Who'da'thunkit? Maybe having Buzz charging off in front of me was a spur in my side. 

3.3km. Max HR 193bpm; average HR 176bpm 

• ace average speed, even with the killer hill. Wouldn't believe I could do that on a tready!

Sunday 4 April - outside

Buzz and I took route 2 - Boulevard, Bourke Road North, MacArthur Road, Lower Heidelberg Road. It's about 3.5km and it's ALL uphill. Almost - a out 90% of it is on an incline. That said I was pretty pleased with our time of 25 minutes, which is an average speed of about 8.4km/hr.

Max HR 192bpm; average HR 179bpm.

• hill work with a fast average speed.

Monday 5 April

Long slow run on the tready. 45 minutes at 7.5km/hr. 5.6km. Max HR 186bpm; average HR 168bpm.

• longest tready time ever. Evvvverrrr.  Great max HR.

Sooo ... I run faster outside. The treadmills are calibrated too slow. Yessss!

After Tuesday's little sprints I felt a bit wonky in the knees, and on Tuesday night I had some actual pain in the right one. I frequently smugly congratulate myself on the excellence of my knees, sandwiched as they are between weak and wobbly ankles and splayed and swaying hips. 

But on I soldiered. There was no pain when I ran, and Monday's tendon soreness of the ankles had settled. I still had the point of soreness on th einside mid-point of my claf which has been around for a while, but nothing crippling. 

So here was my 30 minutes (hold on to your hats, fans and friends!)

Minute           Speed(km/hr)         Incline

0-10                7.7                          0.5%

10-20              8                             0

20-29              8.5                          0

29-30              9                             0

430 calories. Average speed 8km/hr. Average incline 0.1% (ha!). Average HR 159bpm. Max HR 192bpm. 3.99km  - so 4km.

• Yes, it's the fastest average speed. 
• Yes, it's the highest lowest speed.
• Yes, it's the furthest (I totally reject 3.99km. 30 minutes at an average speed of 8km/hr is 4 km. even that doesn't seem to work with the minutes I ran at each speed, so I say it's 4km). 
• Yes, the 20 minutes at 8-9km is the longest I've run above 8km/hr, having done 20 minutes at 8km/hr before but struggling a bit at the end.
• Yes, it's highest number of calories I've burnt in 30 minutes. 
• Yes, I am happy. And awesome.

    

Two runs to discuss with you, slavering adoring fans!

Last night I did a 30 minute run to break the back of the fat laziness that kept me from exercising all weekend. 

Friday morning, I did a great session (770 calories) because I knew that a rich dinner and red wine was in my evening. Me and Buzz: "We can't wait to exercise tomorrow! We're addicted to it! We feel great!". 

Saturday, we intended to go but to be fair had a very heavy day including a long drive, a nap and a concert (the nap was in preparation for the the concert, ok? It wasn't just an scheduled nanna nap). I was also convinced by the argument that my calves and knees felt a little tender so a day off would be a responsible kinda thing. Me and Buzz: "We've had a busy day! We're a bit hungover so we'd have a much better session tomorrow, yeeeha!". 

So Sunday would be cool bananas. We decided to go in the arvo so that we could have a good breakfast out (it wasn't). I was so grumbly and eeeeerrrrrrrrunk after the disappointing breakfast (say the sound out loud. You'll recognise it) that I ended up sooking all afternoon. Me and Buzz: "Do you want a 3pm beer? Shall we get a bag of chips?".*

* to our credit, the bag still isn't finished and won't be even tonight. In the past it wouldn't have lasted 20 minutes.

So Monday morning. Two days off ain't so bad. At 4:10am the puppy was telling me that he had a tummy ache and needed to go outside to eat grass. The 6am wake up just did not happen. 

So by Monday night, I'd spent all day bitching at myself and feeling less and less sparky.  My dad changed our Tuesday morning gym date to Wednesday, so I had even more reason to fear that Monday night wouldn't happen. I realised I just had to go to work out the irks and kick my own arse. 

I went for 30 minutes, despite having planned to do a 40 minute long run over the weekend, just to cut myself some Monday slack. I also hate the gym after work - it's so busy you can't barely get a tready and everyone is loud and bouncy. I much prefer mornings when everyone is a bit more chillaxed and cruisy (in a very 7am hardcore kinda way). 

What I did decide to push myself on though was incline.I f you've taken my absolute silence to date as an indication that I set the tready to 0%, you'd be right. But seeing some road runs and maybe even the Mothers' Day Classic in the next few months, I wanted to give it a shot. 

I decided to keep my pace steady at 7.5km/hr, knowing that I 've found the last two 20 minutes at 8 km/hr pace tough at the end. I only want to tackle one challenge at a time!

This is what I did:

Minutes          Incline

0-10                   1%

10-15                 0%

15-20                 1%

20-30                 0%

Max HR 182bpm, average 169bpm. Average speed was 7.5 cos that's all I had it on. Average incline turned out to be 0.4%. That sounds so sad and lame.

Not much, I know. But I had no idea how I'd feel so I'm happy I kept it low-key. The first ten minutes felt great - I felt all springy and full of energy, like I was a machine just working properly. I didn't do a warmup first because of the tooth-and-nail fights for treadmills around 6pm, so I began from a cold start. I had a nice pace and a good tight feel to the run.

Although I didn't notice the incline when it was on, I did when I turned it down. And it did make it noticeably easier. 

Afterwards I did a hard 15 minutes on the swingy elliptical, so I still had gas in the tank.

This morning my legs were sore and heavy. My knees felt like they'd worked hard, something I've been noticing lately. My hip however was hip hip hooray. 

I did my fartlek (after a fashion) because I felt too leg-tired for a longer run. Here's what I did (my concession was a fast walk instead of a slow jog in the rest periods. Shut up):

Minutes       Speed (km/hr)

0-5                 7.5 (warm up)

90 secs           9

90 secs           6.5

90 secs           9

90 secs           6.5 

60 secs           10

60 secs           6

60 secs           10

60 secs           6 

30 secs           11

30 secs           6

30 secs           11

30 secs           6 

30 secs           12

30 secs           5.5

60 secs           12

60 secs           5.5

230 cals. Max HR: 189bpm. Av HR: 154bpm.

I found the 12km/hr really hard to sustain for 60 secs. Even though sometimes my HR goes up to around 190bpm on a slower run, it's more a slow escalation. This was a fast rise accompanied with hard breathing, which I don't usually get. 

I was pretty pleased with myself until I hopped on the elliptical and could see an athletic type girl doing her sprints - which started at 14km/hr and went up to 18km/hr. I reminded myself that a) she was only sprinting for less than 30 seconds at a time, and b) I must have had 30 kilos on her so if I strapped that to her back she'd stagger, fall, break a kneecap and then I'd be the best.

Yeah cop that! Now I can win!

Things I now need to look out for include: leg tiredness, sore knees, and homicidal tendencies against better (ie all) runners.

My run this morning was a bit of a mixed bag. I went to the gym yesterday and the balhest session of balh. Today I just wanted to run (actually, yesterday morning the only thing that made me get out of bed was thinking about a run. Maybe I just should have done that).

Today's run had good points:

• It was 30 minutes of which the first 10 minutes was at 7.5km/hr and then the last 20 minutes at 8km/hr. 
• My lowest speed was 7.5km/hr, whereas on Tuesday it was 7.2km/hr in my warm up adn cool down. 
• So my average speed was 7.8km/hr, which is .1 faster than Tuesday's tempo run. 
• I ran 3.89km which is about 40 metres more than Tuesday. 
• My hip felt great, my calves had softened up, I got into the swing of things, and my Marathoners - which I re-laced - weren't doing the mega-pronation thing they were last time. 
• Also I burned 398 calories which is excellent in light if tonight's dinner plans which are all very cashewy and winey.

And it had 'hmmm' points:

• the HRM says my max HR was 199. I don't believe that; I was working hard and as on Tuesday foudn the last five minutes at 8km/hr tough, but I didn't see my HRM go above 192.
• I did find the last 5 minutes tough. I'd hoped it would have become a little easier.  

Somehow, even with all those good points, I feel a little confused about today and feel like it wasn't as good as Tuesday's run.

After the 30 minutes I did 10 minutes on the x-rainer - the swingy one - and then another 10 minute run. I did 5 minutes at 8km/hr, 3 minutes at 8.5km/hr, 1 minute at 9km/hr, adn then 1 minute at 9.5km/hr. i totalled 1.37 km, with a max HR of 192 (hich also makes me questionthe 199 recoding above). The average HR doesn't count cos I was recording it when I was on the x-trainer.  Average speed was 8.3km/hr.

I liked running faster; it was harder and I couldn't have kept up 9.5km/hr for long, but it was gutbusting like when I first started again.  Baby steps!

What I'm insisting on calling a tempo run this morning. Insisting!

EDIT: I must have done two sets of 5 minutes as warm up and cool down, not ten. I know I only ran 30 minutes and 3.85km in 40 minutes would be snail-like even for me!

10 5 minute warm up at 7.2 km/hr, followed by a tough but doable 20 minutes at 8 km/hr, followed by an alleged cooldown (during which my HR didn't drop below 182) for ten ten minutes. I ran 3.85km over the 30 minutes, averaging 7.7km/hr, which I'm really pleased with. Also good work with the HR - average 152, max 187, which I think is an improvement for 20 solid minutes at 8 km/hr.

I found the 20 minutes of the proper tempo run tough-ish. My right calf still creaked a bit, but thankfully numbed up when I was warm. Although I had a bit more zone-time and a few more endorphins than on Saturday's long run, it still wasn't at euphoric levels. I did do a bit of a minute countdown in the last five minutes of the 20 minutes at 8 km/hr, and was puffed, but I tried to judge my exertion level on moderately hard - able to say a few words but not hold a conversation. I think I got that down pat - anything more than "Screw you stop chatting you manky cow!" would have been impossible! Still, I got into the groove a bit and concentrated on trying to move with a smooth gait and I even tried to move more to a forefoot strike. 

I've read Born to Run - incredible. I'll give some thoughts soon-ish, but for the moment I'm lusting after some Nike 3.0s. 

On my long run I wore my Nike Marathoners, which I bought last year for a lightweight running shoe after I felt that my faithful Mizuno Creation 10s were too heavy and clunky for the tready.  For a long time I ran exclusively in the Marathoners (listen to me sound like I was clocking 100 ks a week!), and in fact even a couple of latest 'achievements' have been doing runs in the Mizunos - I counted this as an obstacle. 

Cute litte Marathoners

But on Saturday, I really noticed that my low arches were rolling in a lot in the Marathoners,  even being rolled in extra, and I wonder if this is part of the reason that my lower legs have felt sore, like they've been pounded, since then. Even my knees have felt compressed, and I often congratulate myself smugly on my excellent knees sitting in between my torn ankles and floppy hips. 

Today I ran in the Mizunos and tried to notice how they felt. And it was great! They really rolled my ankles out, to the point that I couldn't really even roll my feet in. 

 I love the heavy plastic plates on the Mizuno Wave Creations (apparently these shoes are great for Clydesdales and Athenas. Bugger).

So I'm left with this conundrum: my lightweight, low support Marathoners aren't feeling so flash, and my heavy, clunkariffic Mizunos are feeling corrective. But ... I want Nike Free 3.0s. I believe that running more au naturale will help me strengthen my feet and prevent injuries. I want to get my feet working and stop being such a thumping heel striker. I have also been a pronator and very duck-footed my whole life, from high arches to low, but have never developed the typical pronation injuries of bad knees (they're wonky, but healthy!). I had thought for a while that perhaps my duck feet had made my glutes roll out and atrophy, perhaps causing some weakness and contraction, but James the Physio has suggested that it's more likely that my glutes have worked overtime to compensate.

So has pronation really messed me up? Not really. Should I strengthen my feet and work on my gait? Yes. Should I buy Frees? I love shopping.

 

Yes I want them, yes I do. The closest you can get to barefoot running without tempting a squishy foot full of puppy poopy.