October 22nd, 2010
I haven’t felt too interesting this week, thus the silence on blog posting, though the forum I frequent has been hopping with fun stuff so I’ve been making trouble elsewhere. But now I’ve got something worth talking about.
Going Through My Logs
Today, I began investigating the differences between how I ran last year when my times were better and how I run now.
One glaring difference is that I always used to use McMillan’s calculator to get my easy and long paces, whereas for the past year or so I switched to being effort-based, thinking it was a more organic way to run. This idea comes from hanging out in the marathon forums with the constant refrain “make sure you run your easy runs slowly so you have the energy to do your hard workouts”.
Not to take away from that – after all, when you see many of the paces listed for fast dudes in that thread, some of them go so surprisingly slow compared to their workout/race paces and in fact, most of my fast pals in the 3:20 thread run their Easys at extremely low heart rates and paces considering their race times. So I was thinking that of course I should be doing the same and I’m getting brownie points by not worrying about my easy runs, it’s all the other stuff that matters.
But I’m not marathon training and my legs never feel wiped out so do I really need to be treating non-quality days so gingerly?
Comparing Then And Now
While dissecting the difference between heart rates and paces from the previous year and remembering how my easy runs used to feel effort-wise, this is what I discovered:
I used to run my easy runs at around a heart rate of 160 (75% HRR) but then I got all twisted looking at other people’s numbers and thought “oh my, that’s too high, I need to run them at a lower effort” and “slower means better” so I’ve been running my Easys closer to 150 (68% HRR) for months. That’s a substantial difference.
I’ve also made a habit of starting every run with a couple slow warmup miles and making every Easy run into a progression run, whereas in the past, I would just take off at pace and there would be more variation throughout the run.
Now, the book-smart part of me says the progression thing is a good habit to have, it’s very Pftizinger, but the logician in me says maybe that’s not the greatest habit for general aerobic runs – if my legs aren’t tired when I begin, what am I “saving” myself for? I think I’ve gotten used to a certain breathing pattern upon start-up and it’s simply become habit.
What’s The Fallout?
I think my slow starts are doing me a disservice for racing and hard workouts. This larger gap between comfort and effort means it’s more of a shock when the workout starts – that’s why you’re supposed to do strides before a fast workout, to get your heart rate up and prepare you for moving quickly. But beyond that, my logs bear out that when I was running my best, I had a smaller gap between easy and workout paces.
McMillan, I’m coming back to you
So here I’ve been ignoring McMillan’s recommended paces for a year, thinking I was getting extra-super points for “listening to my body”, but my body, if left to its own devices, would be happiest to amble along indefinitely like the lazy ass it really is.
Thus, I’m beginning an experiment. For the next few weeks I am going to start running my easy runs pretty much on pace from the get-go. No more “this is fine and dandy” slow starts. I’m also going to wear the heart rate monitor more regularly and zero in on 160 for those regular aerobic-paced runs, which means I’ll be running them faster as a whole. Because if I want to race like I used to race, I may as well run like I used to run.
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Dude, if my dumb inexperienced ass can teach you any lesson at all, it’s WEAR THE F-ING HRM **EVERY RUN**. You don’t have to pay attention to it all the time but going back and analyzing is of no real value if you don’t have the data even recorded. I’m sure there are some sage running gurus who will disagree, but I don’t think anybody would argue it’s better to have more information in the long run (no pun intended at all). I concede that in the short term it can be counter-productive looking at HR data from one or two tempos that you considered key, but it’s NEVER a bad thing to be able to access that data later, maybe with a clearer perspective.
Is there any reason not to wear it? Comfort doesn’t count as a valid response, since you forget about it entirely when you WEAR THE F-ING HRM **EVERY RUN**.
Lol! I’ve accumulated enough data to figure this out without wearing it all the time, so it’s not like there’s a glaring hole of information. But I do love your passion.
Maybe I wasn’t clear…I’ve been running at 150 on purpose, not because I wasn’t aware of my heart rate.
I don’t wear it all the time because it doesn’t always have relevance. If I wear it on a few easy runs and it’s the same, then I know that’s my usual easy run heart rate. Now that I’ll be changing my pace, it’ll be important to wear, but after 160ish becomes a normal effort level (and of course, then you know your pace for 160ish), I’ll go back to wearing it for quality runs only. There’s only so much data that’s useful from easy runs, you know?
Back to my question: Is there a reason NOT to wear it?
Is it uncomfortable? Is your computer over-loaded with too much data, no hard-drive space to spare?
I thought not.
Are you overly obsessed with watching the HRM while running?
I also thought not.
Conclusion: Wear the f-ing HRM. The data being recorded is not hurting anything and could possibly be useful to you some day in the future in some manner you don’t yet understand.
Sorry for my F-ing language, eh?
Am I missing out on some important data here? I was able to write this post because of the heart rate data in my logs. What would I gain by wearing the monitor on more easy days that confirm yes…I’m still running at 150? It’s just one more prop.
Seriously, I’ve run with it enough over long blocks of time, through easy runs and quality, that I know when it’s useful and when it isn’t. And yes, I’d rather not wear a strap on a run if it’s just another easy run, it’s more comfortable without.
Ok, so you’ve got a comfort argument. Now that’s something. My wife says the same thing. I think it’s a boob thing, because I don’t even know it’s there. Repeat: more info is never bad!!
It’s a ribcage thing for me – sports bras are enough of a presence, as is. Btw, you can always say fuck here. No need to apologize for a polite version, especially.
McMillan tends to be on the low end of what your recommended pace should be. Most people typically go faster.
sorry, j/k, I couldn’t help that
Hah!! Good one, Herb. (for folks not in the know, this is part of what the forum drama was about this week)
Good gawd you got me with that one. I was ready to be upset…
No crap I nearly spit my coffee out.
Hey I’m wearing my fucking heart rate monitor this morning just cause you said fucking, teh,he,he,he.
Hah! I encourage the frequent use of “fuck” and all it’s derivatives, especially when it comes from good girls, such as yourself.
I love poring over old training logs precisely for this purpose. It’s interesting to try and pinpoint what might have been working for or against you and then tinker with current training based on any hunches. Good luck with the “experiment” — hope to read about it’s success in future posts!
Thanks! I love having so much stuff in the log, it really is valuable. I can’t even remember what to wear in what temperatures so I have to refer to the log for that. Shoe mileage, too. SportTracks rocks.
I’m not “in the know”, but I wish I had more HR data from the old days. Typically though, I think I ran comfortably on non-workout days, although maybe not what Pfitz would advise — probably 7-minute mile pace when I was only racing 10k at 6-minute miles. Now that I’m using the HRM most of the time, I find that anything slower than 72% of max (not sure what HRR that is), is uncomfortably slow.
I think “comfort” is the key word. As long as your easy runs aren’t so quick that they effect the quality of workout days. It’s an individual thing too — some runners feel more comfortable running faster (at a higher HR %) on easy days. Another thing… I think it’s a little volume and recovery dependent: high mileage needs easier easy runs. Runners who recover well day-to-day can run faster on easy days.
Yeah, you ran quicker than Pfitz would have advised (and McMillan would have put your easys at 7:12 to 7:42) but it didn’t do you any harm and you raced well…so what the hell!
Agreed on it being volume/mileage dependent – I’ve been at this mileage so long now that I should be able to step it up in other areas without worry.
72% max and below is recovery run territory so it’s understandable that it might be a trudge. FYI, 150 for me is 75.8% max and 160 comes out to 80.8% max.
That’s interesting Flo. 80.8% of max for me would be 134, which is comfortable enough. When I’m fit that would be about 8:40 miles on the flat. At the moment it’s much slower
But it won’t be for long! Love your new goal.
i tend to rely on mcmillian for what to do with specific fast / hard workouts. especially because my body likes to be lazy too. i noticed during my last marathon cycle that i just couldn’t stay “fast enough” to hit the easy paces he prescribed so i think for my recovery runs it’s all about feel but for real hard stuff i need someone shoving numbers into my face!
Lol, on someone shoving numbers in your face. It’s also a different story when you’re marathon training, I think. Those longer runs always took more out of me, so recovery was more of an issue.
I wear my HRM all the fucking time because it’s a fucking habit. And I like the nice fucking graphs it makes.
Good point about Marathon training being different. I usually start my runs slow in order to work out the stiffness from the day before.Just lately I’ve been experimenting with upping the speed a little.
Woohoo!! Got Jim to say fuck!! That’s on par with getting Stevi to do it, considering what a gentleman you are. Hilarious. Here’s to the added pep in your step, too!
Todd: nah can’t be a boob thing. I always wear the HRM on runs and never notice it.
150bpm could be too low because if you don’t increase the mileage at the same time it means decreased training load, so no wonder if that put you in a rut, of course this doesn’t mean that this is the cause of it, but it could very well be, so it will be interesting to see what happens!
Not really decreased training load since the quality sessions were harder, but it didn’t help, that’s for sure.
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