Seven inches of snow yesterday and -9F this morning (but only -5F when I started the workout! JOY!), so pardon me for a moment while I express myself with a stream of expletives...
Never mind. I'm over it. The workout went well enough, although I was a little bit disappointed in the pace. It started out well enough, but quickly snapped back to the reality that my current marathon pace is around 5:55, not 5:45. Felt good today, notwithstanding my mental state, which is utterly filled with frustration, anger, and a dash of rage. If Mother Nature was a real person, I'd be in a holding cell right now waiting for a lawyer and my psych consult. The NCAA has nothing on me as far as March Madness is concerned right now.
The workout: two mile warmup in 13:12, then eight miles at current MP, based AGAIN on heart rate (152-154) because the roads and the temps were less than ideal.
5:46(151) | 5:50(153) | 5:58(151) | 5:56(152) | 5:58(153) | 5:58(153) | 5:55(153) | 5:51(154)
Breathing was a bit more labored than I would expect at this pace, due to the facemask, but otherwise felt really strong. Recovery to 120 HR in 37 seconds, and to 110 in 54 seconds. Felt like I could have gone twice the distance at this pace without a lot of extra effort. Good day in spite of the conditions.
Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury
8 comments:
March is indeed a cruel month.
Running in shorts and 47F two days ago, 14F this morning with a winter storm on the way...
Make room in that cell of yours. I am about to rip Old Man Winter's heart out.
How many laps around the exercise yard makes a mile?
One question, Eric. How do you know for sure what your MP is right now? Heart rate? Effort? Star alignment?
"...felt really strong. Recovery to 120 HR in 37 seconds, and to 110 in 54 seconds. Felt like I could have gone twice the distance at this pace without a lot of extra effort."
This sounds like a good day if I just copy and paste this part. Go back and read your Daws, this weather must eventually end. Then the leash comes off.
I'm hoping for good footing for you for the long run tomorrow.
Love the pictures and despite the snow, nice workout; no doubt you must be pleased. Keep it up!
Marc, that is my favorite comment ever. I'll save you a seat, and a toothbrush. We'll make some shivs.
To be completely literal, the only way I know my marathon pace is to go out and race one right now. Absent that, you have to guess, and my guess is based on Mystery Coach's suggestion of an appropriate heart rate range for the MP and MP-10 seconds workouts, my sense of what I could maintain for the marathon distance, and the relatively objective measurement of 85% percent of maximum heart rate.
In the past ten days or so, those measure up as follows:
Thing - HR - Pace
-----------------
MP 152-154 5:52-5:58 (5:55)
MP-10 157-158 5:45 +10 (5:55)
85%(180) 153 5:55 (5:55)
There's all that, and yes, the moon waxing at 18% of new and the fact that Orion is in Jupiter today makes me pretty confident that 5:55 is as good a guess as I can get without actually racing.
By the way, excellent 10k the other day, Thomas!
Thanks for pulling out the one positive thing I wrote in the blog today and making me own up to it, Mike. You're absolutely spot on. I'm so wrapped up in my complete disgust with this weather, I didn't pay much attention to how quickly the HR dropped. That's a good sign. Some would say that the recovery is a better indication of fitness than the workout itself.
As the day wears on, I think I'll come around to being much more satisfied with the workout. The sun will come out and the roads will clear, and the seething anger will give way to, well, honestly, simmering rage, but eventually, eventually, mild satisfaction. I might even crack a smile by May.
Thanks, everyone, for the comments. On a day like today, they mean a lot. Take care, and good running!
Throwing down a run like that in the weather you had to deal with is pretty impressive, and clearly indicates better fitness than the numbers suggest. I remember easily dropping 10-15 seconds per mile in shorts and sun from runs in weather like that (assuming you've trained to handle that pace - which you've started doing).
Another dollar in the bank. Good run.
I'm impressed you did 5:55s in that weather with that footing. There's probably an exercise physiologist out there who's done an experiment on this, but my number out of the air figure is that you're giving up at least 10sec/mile to conditions.
But yeah, -5F and snow in march sucks.
10 miles in 60 min. ? in these conditions? Are you possessed? LOL
Fargo is yours.
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