I woke up this morning to sunshine, clear skies, no wind and 75 degrees. FINALLY!! Some decent weather in San Francisco! Time for a run. I didn't have a plan other than to get outside and enjoy the day, so I just set out on my normal 5.13 route through the Presidio.
Pretty quickly I noticed I was feeling pretty darn good, and after a mile or so I decided to start pushing the pace. There are a few easy climbs on this run that I found myself cruising up much stronger and faster than usual... my new focus on strength and hills is already paying off. I watched my average pace drop from 9:30 to 9:20 to 9:10... cool. I'm going to shoot for my first <9:00 run since all my injuries started last fall. On the last incline home I was right at 9:00, so I hammered up at 7:50 (shocker) and finished up at 8:58. (Garmin says moving pace was 8:53 but I never stopped? Odd.) Almost all negative splits: 9:26, 9:29, 9:05, 8:31, 8:27.
I noticed something interesting about my heart rate. I first hit that panting-for-breath point around 160 but then pushed through it. The next time I hit that point, my HR was at 173. On that last hill home, I hit 180 before I started gasping for breath. I wonder if it would have continued to bump up if I'd kept going. Probably not, but I'm now curious. We've been using 173 as my max HR all year, but should it be 180?
Looks like I need to do a new LT test... this spring I couldn't really do a solid test because I was having major hamstring problems. And I haven't done much tempo or speedwork all year due to other issues like piriformis, feet, etc. Now I think my strength focus will keep injuries at bay and help me start pushing the pace for Miami.
Glad you had a good run!!
And interesting to note your HR today too. Fwiw, I run 10Ks at ~190-194, yet train at 140-150 most of the time. Easy aerobic should be ~40-50 beats below your max.
Posted by: Michelle Simmons | 06/20/2011 at 12:01 PM
Sounds like a great day!! :)
Posted by: Molly | 06/20/2011 at 12:26 PM