May 1st, 2009 – Threshold 3

Of the three threshold training sections, this one is what I’d consider the easiest.  That’s an odd thing to say, honestly, because pushing my heart rate into zone 4 at all requires me to run faster than I’d ever considered possible, and it winds up being hard on my knees.  Of course, I’m still not sure if the knee issue is due to the shoes, or just that I’m really not doing myself justice with the way I train.  Eh, I don’t really know.

Threshold 3 though is easy because the zone 4 intervals are only 30 seconds long.  I tell myself I can run at a dead sprint for 30 seconds any time and that there’s no reason I shouldn’t be pushing to do so.  I manage to get my pace as fast as 5:42 per mile during those intervals and it really shows me the shape I’m in.  I can dead out pound the treadmill.

Housekeeping:  7.8 miles in 70 minutes, 8:58 per mile average; 872 calories.  Those last two numbers are a bit down, again, based on my lack of running during vacation, and also because to get back into zone 2 I was doing some 15:00 mile averages.  That’s a function of my recovery ability.  I have some trouble ramping up my heart rate initially, but I never have much trouble getting it to recover.  I can see a drop of as much as 45 beats per minute in a one minute slice, though I typically have to really slow down to get it to recover that quickly.  Still, I like knowing it can readily recover, because it means that after a race, I’m not walking around really gassed.  I was mildly disappointed I didn’t burn 900 calories or more on this run as well, but I also knew that the walking segments cost me that chance.

Damnit!  More blisters.  I have overcompensated and in my attempt to wrap my feet more loosely, I only managed to let the wrap cause the blister.  That settles it, this weekend I am going to get new stability control shoes and I guess this is an expensive lesson learned.  I didn’t want to have to effectively waste the money on these Asics, but I cannot keep trying to work around the shoe issue.  Oh well, at least I finished without much pain in general.  I do have some tightness in my right knee though and that continues to trouble me.  I’m not sure if I’ve really done something or if I just needed to stretch, or if it is related to my laziness.  Probably a bit of all of those, but it always annoys me when the wheels seem to fail me.  I’m just going to have to accept that I’m getting old and listen to my body when it tells me things aren’t going well.  I only have two more weeks of the cardiac program until I try to start my own training for the half marathon and I really just want to get it done so I can start something else.

Cheers!