April 30, 2009 – Zone 3

Well, I had to get back into this at some point, so this week was only three workouts.  Today’s was what is in this segment one of my favorites.  It’s just 60 straight minutes of zone 3 running, where my heart rate is supposed to stay between 157 and 173 beats per minute.  This is a purely aerobic run, and really where I am trying to set my pace for endurance running like the half marathon.  I could likely run 13.1 miles in zone 2 and 3 if I ran slowly enough, but that’s not my goal.  As I had stated very early in this blog, I’m working on a velocity training function, and I want to be able to cover a specific distance in fixed times.

I can tell I’m carrying some extra weight as well as some lack of running.  I had been completing 9 miles during this run before vacation.  No such luck today.  Housekeeping:  8.3 miles in 70 minutes, an average pace of 8:26 per mile.  920 calories burned.  The calories burned surprised me somewhat.  I’m really cooking the calories suddenly.  Now, obviously, part of that is that my body is working harder because I was so lazy, but part of it is that the break also allowed my body to kick into a higher gear once I got back.  I don’t have a sense of how this will affect the race, but I’d really like to be able to get back the extra pounds prior to the race next Sunday.  We’ll see.

A bit of right knee issue to cope with during the run.  It seems the tendonitis still hasn’t really abated and though it seems to react well once it warms up, it starts out tweaking a bit.  Of course, abandoning my strength training until after this next race was probably not the wisest move either, but there were just too many interruptions and I don’t want added muscle soreness prior to the race.  I just hope that I can once again get the knee to cooperate.  I know a good bit of the pain is due to the stresses associated with sub 6 minute mile sprinting during the threshold workouts, but it doesn’t make this any easier to cope with.

8.3 miles was short.  I felt gassed and really annoyed.  I need a good long run of 10 miles or more to convince myself I can actually do this half marathon.  I haven’t even gotten close to 10 yet.  Perhaps I should just set a mild pace and allow my pace to stay constant and let time vary just to show myself I can finish the distance.  Part of the mental challenge is just convincing myself the distance is possible.

Cheers!