I Think I Got Away With It

Parkrun Goal
I'll say at the start of this, my first major goal has been for a while to complete a 5k parkrun by the end of February.

So I Lied
In my last post I said that I had reached 5k of actually run interval distance on the road but actually, when I re looked, I'd only hit 4.58! However, last week I definitely exceeded it with 5.33km run / 6.63 tot.  This was a really good run, I kept my heart rate below my target of 165 most of the time. My first run with music as well as RunKeeper, I wasn't sure if the apps would run together or drown each other out but they're fine. Music may have helped with HR.

Have I Blown It?
I thought I'd blown it following this extended run. I had not run for over a week prior and probably should have dropped back a little in my training plan.  We had been away to the island of Cumbrae west of Glasgow and circumnavigating the island we did do a 10.4Mi (16.7km) Walk followed by a 10.4Mi Cycle so we hadn't been idle, but I hadn't run for over a week.
After the 240Mi drive home in a pair of trainers with stiff backs I was suffering ankle pain and then, already a little worried that I had a problem, we spent a day walking the concrete floors of furniture shops and the Trafford Centre.
So, at the start of last week, my left had an issue up to and into the calf and my right had tenderness low down. Classic hurt first thing and OK during exercise as I'd had when the tendons were injured. Beginning to think that parkrun next week may not be.

I backed off any training early this week but by Thursday thought I could risk a treadmill session with a drop in duration and pace. I did an easy 3km followed by ice on left achilles as precaution. Still hoping for Saturday parkrun.
Friday seemed OK but by now I'm paranoid, scared of exacerbating any injury, not wanting to abandon my parkrun before end of Feb goal, feeling every real or imagined twinge.

Friday Night - Saturday
I decided I must go for it, so Friday evening I prepared my running kit before we headed out to the theatre in Manchester.
For a 59 year old, I was stupidly nervous of approaching my first parkrun, not knowing what type of athletes would be there, would I look an idiot taking it easy. Would I get in someones way and spoil their run?
Overnight I realised I hadn't got my bar code which I printed back in April before tearing my achilles.

parkrun
I parked 5 min away 15 min early and headed down to the start which all seemed quite relaxed then off for 5 min warm up fast walking feeling a little more comfortable. Achilles feeling OK.
I determined not to let myself over stretch and do some damage so set RunKeeper to tell me to do 6 min run / 2 min walk.  Got myself at the back so I would not be drawn on by the speed of those around me and then off. Easy first 6 min then embarrassing 2min walk. No one else walking at this stage and all the little kids are heading past me. I'm in danger of walking behind the whole field. By my 3rd interval, I'm passing some stragglers and a few others are walking.
Bramhall is quite a hilly park with some steep inclines and my heart rates are crazy, generally 175-180, 185 peaking on uphill sprint to 195! I keep trying to slow down but I feel great and am not particularly out of breath.
My last 2 min walk interval is signalled when there are only a couple of minutes left. My inner child finally won and whilst I did walk it was only for one minute after which I sprinted up the final hill and down to the gate. (What an idiot!)
Anyway, it's Sunday morning now, the day after, and I Think I Got Away With It! Achilles are feeling fine. Knees are a bit knackered but I think all is well. First goal achieved and it feels good.

Result
32:52 which I am actually pleased with given that I was forcing myself back. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and will be back for more. I was last (14th) in my age group and 350th in a field of 392 so I didn't finish way behind everyone as I had feared.
Feeling more optimistic about a sub 60min 10km at the end of May.

  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

A Smile May Be Worth 2 Heart Beats

Good Progress
I had 2 really good sessions this week with good distance/duration progress and dramatic improvement in run / walk ratio. Only 1 month ago I was just managing 3 x 4 minute run intervals on the treadmill compared to 4 x 8 minute run intervals yesterday.
Road running sessions 1 month apart, 4 Jan and 5 Feb have gone from 2.2km (18min) to 5.9km (41min).

Saturday, Road
A major goal reached with the run element alone exceeding 5 km, this was by far the longest session I have achieved so far.
I set off with my new toy, (Heart Rate Monitor or HRM - see last post), with the intention of keeping my heart rate (HR) below 165bpm. Once I started running, it went straight up to 172 and I had to force myself to slow down and relax to achieve 165.
On each interval it would be higher and I would again pull it down to 165. There was a noticeable increase uphill where I had to accept that 170 was unavoidable
At 165 I'm at a slow plod run from which it would be difficult to go any slower.

I was actually a lot fresher on return home after this session even though it was my longest road run by far. I felt I could have gone on at end of each 5 min interval. Mind you, my fitness must be improving so maybe I would have been OK this week anyway.

Tuesday, Gym
I was intending a road run but with snow on the ground and a generally foul day I headed off to the gym for treadmill and swim. Today was to be 4 x 8 Min's, a considerable push forward.

Knowing that during my last treadmill session I was exceeding 175bpm, I set out aiming at keeping below 165. I started by reducing the gradient I had been training at from 2.3 down to 1.6 but I was also keen to increase the speed to more like my road speed in my search for answers to the apparent effort difference between road and treadmill.
On my first 8 minute session at 10kph I managed to keep between 162 and 165 which pleased me, however, my second 8 resulted in 168-171 with peaks to 173. I decided to drop speed a little for third 8 min to 9.5kph and at first this seemed manageable maintaining 165 but by halfway through I was around 168 with peaks to 171, still, this was going in the right direction so for my fourth 8 min I reduced to 9kph with a fairly satisfactory 164-166 with an odd peak to 170.

Through none of this was I out of breath or struggling and my 3 minute recovery walks at 5kph got me down to 118, 125 and in the last one 134. These represented recoveries of 30-40bpm from steady which is re-assuring for health purposes.

Heart Rate Questions and Lessons
My HR during training is significantly higher than the default Cardio fitness recommendations on websites I have visited. Reading these, most suggest that I should be aiming mid 130's for the type of running I am doing at my age. I am 30bpm above this. This acknowledged, my resting HR is very low for my age suggesting I could use a lower age in tables but even this only permits me 140's leaving me still 20bpm over.

Searching through forums, there are loads of other people reporting 165-175 and describing the same situation of a comfortable breathing state and good recovery but unable to lower further without stopping running altogether.
A figure which keeps appearing is that HR defaults should be treated as having +/- 24 bpm error as everyone is different.  I could go for testing my Max Heart Rate to find the correct parameters for me personally but that seems unnecessarily taxing and I see no health benefit and some health risk in testing it without medical supervision so will give that a miss.
I will carry on monitoring and using the HRM as a way to avoid over taxing myself. It will be interesting to see if it does lower as I get fitter still.

Noticed to appear to make a difference:

• Thinking HR down whilst looking at the display seems to work 2-3bpm
• Relaxing shoulders (even if already feeling relaxed)
• Breathing out smoother rather than blowing out
• Thinking a bounce in step so that stride extends slightly and foot fall frequency reduces
• Relaxing my face into a smile seems to drop 2 bpm on the treadmill!  :)

  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.