November 3rd, 2009
Great run today, 12.2 with 4 x .8 of hills (a.k.a. .4mi up, turnaround and repeat) then 8 fartleks at HP (2 min. on, 1 off), avg 8:22 for the run. Coming off that final downhill made the fartlek transition so easy, since I already had the leg turnover going. And Doggie, for the record, looks like Hudson’s usage of the term fartlek (as opposed to the untimed, freeform original definition) is pretty standard, since I saw Ryan Hall talking about doing fartleks using timed intervals to describe them, too. So no more fartlek apologies from me. Unless I really stink up the room.
My HR continues to stymie me, the water seemed to make a difference, but I’m still elusively avoiding my usual resting rate by a few points and it differs for my runs though the weather’s been pretty steady. Anyway, thanks to Julie (aka Races Like A Girl), who recently posted a link to a kick-ass masters runner’s blog, Jaymee Marty: a 42 year old woman who’s training for the Olympic Trials, I found something that made me feel better about the whole HR situation.
She posted a cool list of “marathon lessons learned” from Twin Cities (where she ran a 2:46…only been running seriously for the last 5 years, too). Number 7 in particular could have been written just for me – it’s also the only one all in bold.
7. “Don’t trust heart rate. Maybe this one should read: don’t spaz out like a monkey in the weeks leading up to the race because you all of a sudden start measuring your heart rate and it isn’t in the range the books say it should be leading you to think that you are not trained to go out and run at your goal marathon pace. Enough said.”
I have definitely been spazzing out like a monkey and to see this written before my eyes was a lovely sight. I know I’m faster than I was before the start of this cycle, I know I’m not overtrained, I know I’m hitting the workouts so…screw my heart, trust the work.
A few other juicy tidbits in Jaymee’s blog have to do with weight – at 5’5″ and 124, she’s not at all the usual waif which is very helpful for some of my fellow running gals to see, like LARunner, who has been in weight-questioning mode recently. The takeaway from this is, you really have to test and see what works for you. There’s no one number for everybody.
Speaking of weight, with 3 weeks to go, it’s time to get serious with my eating again. I’ve had cookies and candy daily for the last couple months which is actually pretty cool, because it shouldn’t be too hard to lose a couple lbs before the race simply by eliminating that stuff from my diet. I also bought cottage cheese again after a long hiatus and fruit is also back in my fridge, though I’m not a big fruit lover (who needs fruit when there are so many yummy candies and cookies in the world?) but I will be enjoying Nature’s bounty for the next few weeks.
I’m not looking to lose anything big, just a couple lbs, btw. I’m usually 117.5, though now that I’m drinking more water, I’m closer to 119. Got no problems with either, though it’ll be fun to have that little boost if I can be 115 on raceday.
And that’s it for now. Later, sweet peeps.
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I think it’s SO true that each of us is an experiment of one when it comes to the “perfect” weight, and all other training matters. I’ve been a good five pounds up for some time compared to my marathon weight last spring, but have set 5K and half PR’s during that time.
I know you probably don’t want to be spazzing like a monkey, but that’s quite the amusing visual. I think HR data would just be one of those things that would cause my brain to fry.
I took a look at Glover’s chart to which LA linked and was surprised that I am in the “acceptable range.” When I put in a fair chunk of miles for my last marathon, I actually got close to the “target weight” of 154 for 5’10″.
Although I’m bigger than most comparable guys, who tend to be rail-thin, and have more of a cyclist’s build (big thighs), I figure since it’s been pretty steady lo the past 30 years (whether I run or not) it’s at an equilibrium weight, so I don’t worry much about it. But when I’m getting serious I do try to limit the number of sweets, although when I get to a certain, “emaciated” point (my face gets thin) my wife tries to foil my plans by stuffing me with stuff at every opportunity.
Reading you and Julie talking about the heart rate stuff so consistently makes me wonder if I made a mistake by not getting one with my Garmin. I just fear that it would be yet another way for my nerdy self to get overwhelmed with stats…
Good luck with the weight loss. I was hoping to drop 5ish pounds before the taper began but didn’t get it done. (Although looking at that chart Joe sent, I’m 6 under target which I find hard to believe…) I’m scared to try now that it’s so close to the race. I was a little surprised to read that you’re trying to lose this close to the race? I assumed that would lead to a possible loss of energy? Is there anything to that?
I loved my HR monitor when it was giving me readings I liked, lol. I still love it and think it’s a great tool but yes, it can be a distracting focus, though now that I see what I’m dealing with is normal, I will calm down about it. Another forum pal on the sub3:20 thread said his HR rises at the end of his race cycles too, so I just needed to hear it from another source as well.
As for the weight, no worries about loss of energy, we’re only talking 3lbs. and that’s from cutting out crap food, so if anything, the machine will be running cleaner.
Yay, she is the same weight as me! Now, if only I was an hour faster. Seriously though, I’m glad you found her blog, and I’m about to go have a look too. It’s so inspiring to read stuff like that.
So, no more spazzing, right? LOL.
2.5 weeks! WOOHOOO. When can we officially start becoming geek weather nerds?
LOL on the monkey-spazzing. I suppose the lesson is that you should only believe heart-rate if there is strong supporting evidence. Careful on the weight loss. Cookies are carbs, too
I’m so glad you left monkey-spazz-land. I like my HRM and sometimes I even look at the data, but I do think it can be too easy to get wrapped around the axle on that particular data point. And with the well-known interaction between stress and HR/BP, I can easily see a blip turning into a spiral into spazzing. You know, you see a few high numbers and start to worry about it, which makes it stay high, etc. At least I KNOW that’s what would happen to me if I spent any more time on it than a cursory post-run glance.
Maybe you should just ditch the damn thing for the following 2.5 weeks. No numbers, no stress!
Thanks for sharing all that HR stuff. It’s easy to get carried away with it because it seems like it SHOULD be a very cut-and-dry way to measure fitness. As long as you are feeling strong and not overtrained then never fear!
[...] early on. Yikes. (Interestingly, though, an article Joe linked to this article in a comment on Flo’s blog, shows my target weight as 161. But, I don’t agree with that. Maybe that’s a post for [...]