Posts Tagged ‘heart rate’

Many thanks to Jim for turning me onto Veronique Billat’s workout, 30/30s.  It wasn’t till I got home and downloaded my HR data that I really got the point of what these are about.

When you read about or explain the Billats, it’s human nature to want to compare it to something recognizable, so you think it must be like strides or fartleks.  It’s neither.  It’s an ocean wave of running. 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, 20 times.

The difference between Billats and strides/fartlek is that the latter give you true recovery.  With Billats, 30 seconds goes by in a flash, so while the work portions are fast, the recovery portions are seemingly over even faster.  You literally do not recover, however, you get enough of a break that you can complete another surge.

But enough talk, here’s the dirt:

This is a 5×1000 workout I did in October (I’m using this to compare because I’ve only done 800s this cycle and they compare even less favorably than this one).  My HR for the workout portion averaged 177 and hit 187 Max.  I spent 12:33 at 183.  It was 20:10 of hard running.

Here are today’s Billats (30sec on,30sec off)x20.  I started them at mile 6.75 of an 11-miler.  My HR for the workout portion averaged 181, hit 188Max and I spent 14:48 at 183.  It was 10 minutes of hard running.  Do you see?  I spent more time “in the zone” for 1/2 the amount of hard running as regular intervals! Wow.

Funny thing was, I had a preconceived notion that it couldn’t be as good a workout since 10 minutes sounds so paltry.  Truth is, the recoveries end up being included in the total time since your HR doesn’t have a chance to go down much. Who’d a thunk it?

Oh, and before anyone comments on how hard it’d be to keep track of that many intervals, it’s a simple matter of programming 30/30 or just 30 seconds into your Garmin or Ironman-type watch and setting it to repeat 20 or 40 times.  Easy schmeasy.

Before I close, I wanted to update you on my resting HR after the whole quitting-pot-heart-rate-escalation phenomena.  About a week and half ago, over 4 months since I quit, it finally, finally hit my old normal HR again.  I’m really shocked at how long it was affected but utterly relieved that it’s back to good ole 48, flirting on 47.  Took long enough.

I finally took everyone’s advice today – I put the HR monitor strap in a storage box under the bed and immediately felt better for it.  However, I still was dissatisfied because I am someone who needs to know Why.  Why was my HR higher these past couple months?  I was near admitting I must be overtrained, though I didn’t fit any of the signs.  I just needed a reason for it and tonight, I found it.

I was looking at the calendar and figuring out when the disparity started.  It was soon after my last Half, the PDR.  OK, so did I blow a heart fuse in that race?  No.  Did I start taking a new supplement?  A new allergy drug?  No.  What I did was, on Sept. 27th, one week after that race, I quit smoking pot.

Spending some quality time with my good friend Google tonight, I learned that right after smoking  pot, your HR becomes elevated for the next couple hours or so, that’s commonly known.  But what isn’t so commonly known is that if you’re a chronic user, which I’m embarrassed to say I was, it has the opposite effect.  It lowers your HR, not right after smoking but all the time.

Presented with excerpts from books and medical studies that finally answered my question Why, I’m finally able to put the overtraining fear to bed, that wasn’t it at all.  This study in particular focuses on marijuana users after a month of monitored abstinence and has this to say in the Results section (I’ll make it green in honor of weed):

“Heart rate for the marijuana subjects tested at 28 to 30 days after admission was significantly greater than the values obtained within 72 hours of admission.“

The average rise in resting HR after a month of being clean was 10 beats (8 for the Light users, 12 for the Heavys).  That’s a lot! And it explains everything.

While I’m being honest here – because what the hell, maybe somebody else can benefit – aside from one two-month break, I’ve been a pothead the whole time I’ve been running.  I should qualify that because I never actually ran stoned (well, I did once and didn’t like it), but it was an evening activity that I enjoyed for a long, long time.  I would say I qualify as a chronic user because I did it most every night, though using that study, I’d have been considered a “light” user by the quantity I took.

The funny thing is, I had made a jokey mention of it to my Sub3:20 friends a few weeks ago, thinking that getting off pot could have contributed to the HR weirdness, but I only meant it in the psychological way that not having a stress outlet might make me more anxiety-ridden, not that there would be a real physiological thing going on.

I only wish I’d have been into HR stuff last year when I was prepping for Steamtown.  I took a pot break back then too but only wore my monitor once throughout that whole cycle, so there’s no data to compare, maybe I would have figured it out sooner. No matter, I won’t have to do this again.  I want to be a the best runner I can be and smoking will never help, so I’m off the stuff for good.  OK, maybe an occasional party toke, but no more pothead Flo. Tense Flo is where it’s at from now on! Just kidding. No I’m not.  I hope I am, this tense shit is for the birds.

Due to the forecast (windy tomorrow) I switched up my week a bit.  Yesterday was an 8 mile progression, which was a pleasure since for months now, short runs have been relegated to recovery, so it was nice to put a little energy into it.  I started with an 8:58 then got down to a couple 7:40s, so average was 8:17.

Today was my final continuous GMP run – 14 miles with 10MP.  Weather report for the day was 56 degrees, cloudy with 10mph wind.  Carried my small handheld and took a gel at mile 7, just to check that I wouldn’t choke at pace.  Avg for the total run 7:51.

I wisely removed the HR data window from my Garmin so I had no idea what was going on till I got home. The run itself was fine, the MP miles weren’t an easy glide, but then they’re not expected to be at this point.  In fact, that was another thing I enjoyed reading in Jaymee Marty’s blog -  down the page you’ll see her observation on GMP runs and how she once had a coach who told her they should feel very easy yet they never were, giving her unnecessary mental baggage she carried with her for a while.

Anyway, it wasn’t easy but it wasn’t super hard either.  The cool part turns out to be the HR data, of all things (this is why I don’t ditch it completely, there’s still useful info to be found).  Yes, I’m still elevated on whole by about 5bpm, but here’s the deal.  I did another MP run back in September, which I’d somehow forgotten about.  It was 14 miles with 8 at GMP.  Both today and September’s run averaged 7:27 for the MP miles. (not by design, btw, I’m still targeting 7:30s)

The run in September averaged 76% HRR for the first mile and finished at 83.4%, so it rose 7.4% during the run.  Today’s run however, averaged 82% in the first mile but finished at 83% – a 1% rise.  And it actually was highest on the 2nd and 3rd mile, so it went down from there.   This is progress.  In full disclosure, I should mention that September’s run was 10 degrees warmer at 66, but I don’t think that speaks for today’s lovely flat profile.

Anyway, glad it’s done.  Aside from some progression runs, the rest of my workouts aren’t too challenging from here on in (can’t say I’m sorry about that, either).  Feels great to be over the workload hump and now into calmer waters, because I really am a lazy ass at heart.

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.

Yesterday was a good LT session, same as last week: 10 miles w/6 from MP to HP.  After the 2nd LT mile, my Garmin lost satellites so I didn’t know how fast I was going, though I pressed the Lap button at the mile markers so I could figure it out later.  Came out alright – 7:30, 7:26, 7:27, 7:07, 7:03, 7:02…avg 7:16.

I did a hard reset on my Garmin today which seemed to solve the recent satellite problem.  I also did  a body reset when I realized that the likely culprit for my high HR lately is I haven’t been drinking enough water.  I’d surreptitiously gone  back to diet soda in the past few weeks and had stopped drinking water like I used to.  I could see my pee hadn’t been clear in awhile (TMI? not for a runner) but I was just ignoring it.  So stupid.

It was this article on Active.com that got me thinking about it, because I don’t fit any of the overtraining symptoms (except for high HR) so it has to be something else.   If you look at the table near the bottom, only one lb. of fluid loss, which is equal to a 16oz glass of water (yes, 16 liquid oz of water actually does weigh a pound…cool factoid for you) can give a 6-7 beat difference.  Bingo.

So today I drank water like it was my job and on my 14 miler today (9:03 pace) my AHR was just a couple beats faster than my recent recovery runs at 9:57.   I’ll be curious to see how/if my resting HR changes in the next day or so.

On the mice front, as I mentioned in a comment to the last post, the second I turned the light out and went into the bedroom that night, I heard SNAP! and the life of a little mouse ended behind my refrigerator.  Happy to say, nothing has touched the remaining traps and no more turdettes have been found, though I always heard where there’s one mouse, there’s 100, here’s hoping this was one wayward soul.

Kicking it in, eyes on the finish line.

Some race observations:

I’m at the start, standing by these two women, when I overhear them talking about the weather so I butt in and ask how it will change their race.  One of them (who won #1 in my AG with a 19:43) tells me to expect 30sec. to 1-min slowdown.   Then I asked do you start with that in mind or does your body tell you what to do, they said, “oh, your body will set the pace.”  I already expected a slowdown but hearing it could be 1 whole minute freaked me out some.   At that point, I had no idea what to expect but knew I was going to start about 10 seconds slower than originally planned.

At about 1.5 miles in, I end up by some guy who says, “Mind if I hang off you?”  I said “sure”, but then in 3 more steps I was already ahead of him and gone.  That’s when I realized I was passing people en masse.

Looking at my splits, I see my 2nd mile was 10 seconds slower but for no real reason, there weren’t any hills to speak of.  I think that was a mixture of me being afraid of pushing in case I died a premature hot death and what’s turning into my usual 2nd mile silliness where I tend to lose attention and get whiney.

But the kicker was my HR (I wore the strap but had the info hidden so I had no idea what it was through the race).  It was low. Lower than the 3mile tempo I’d done the week before at 10k pace.  I averaged 86%HRR, maxed at 92.  This is mildly disturbing to me, because if anything, it should have averaged in the 90s, either because of the heat or the 5K effort, not to mention both.  A RW forumite, Amuse, whose opinions I respect completely, thinks it’s because heat and humidity don’t allow you to get up to optimal racing intensity, which sounds sensible, though the previous week’s tempo does leave a question mark.

I’m finally understanding that HR info is almost ethereal in that there’s no tried and trueness to it.  I still find it incredibly useful, but realize there is no magic key that will tell me when A happens, B will result.  I can live with that.

Nick gets laid:

Nick said something later that afternoon that was so hot, I had to do him.  He said, “Your gait, or whatever you call it, has changed a lot since the last time I saw you race.  You’re not hunched over like you used to be.”  YES, YES, YEEEESSSS!!  As someone who’s had crappy posture forever, running or otherwise, all the pushups and chinups these past months have made quick work of straightening me up.  The last time he saw me race was December, so this was music to my ears.

My form in general has changed a lot without me realizing it (though the heelstrike looks here to stay).  I used to wonder why some runners barely move their arms, it looks weird to me, but apparently I am one of them now.  In looking at the photos he took, I see my arms don’t have much of a swing, which is fine and dandy – as long as I’m getting faster, I don’t care what they do.  One thing I did notice on today’s run though, is that they are definitely driving from the elbows which is what the books and coaches say to do, but that I could never manage to integrate purposely.  It’s cool to find this happens naturally now.

Beyond the race:

Yesterday was a lovely 9-miler, then today was a not-so-lovely 11.3.  I started out planning to run 9 but it was cool and beautiful (light rain) so I made my turnaround at 6 to make it 12.  With 4 miles to go I got this weird pain in my leg which I ran through, but eventually had to stretch.  Finally, I ended up walking the last .75.  I’ve walked home maybe 4 times ever.  It feels fine now though, so hopefully it was just a ghost.  My shoes are at 340 miles, so maybe that didn’t help, either.

My business dilemma/hell:

And now, the real pain in my ass, which I haven’t mentioned on here though it’s been a dark cloud for over a month.  Cafepress, the company I use to make and send my t-shirts, is changing something in their business model which screws all us shopkeepers out of $ starting June 1st.  I’ve been paralyzed to do anything about it because it takes forever to create products, which I’ll have to do all over again with another fulfillment company.

So I’ve been freaking out how to handle it, where to start, whether the running shirts or music shirts or scuba, etc.  After going back and forth about the best way to proceed, I finally started recreating some products last week, but I hate it, I can’t stand redoing old projects and this is sheer drudgery that’ll take weeks to complete.

On the other hand, I’ve been terrible with business this whole year, spending my every thought on running and letting all my websites languish – so in a way, this has blessing properties, as it’s making a return to creativity very inviting, at least as an alternative to this shit work.  I might just leave a lot of designs on Cafepress and concentrate on new stuff, but it’s just a mess since pricing structures will be different for each company.  Aargh!  There’s really no good answer to it at all.

If there is a silver lining, it’s that the new company offers wicking shirts, so I can finally sell running shirts that runners can actually run in.  Woohoo, what a concept.

And that concludes this epic post.  I need peanut butter.