Revving Up

All through winter I have noticed an elevated heart rate. Most of my runs produced a HR that was several beats higher than what I would have expected. My resting heart rate has shown the same effect, every time I measured it it was between 43 and 45 when I would usually expect it to to be around 40. I attribute this to the low-level cold that has been doggedly been affecting me for at least two months now. Were I not a runner I might not even have noticed it, but I am and I can tell the difference.
However, I did notice an improvement recently and indeed, when I measured my resting HR this morning, it was at 42. That's still a touch high, but it's the lowest value I have seen in months. Together with the improved numbers of Tuesday's evaluation, this is clearly moving the right way.

I had slightly heavy legs on Thursday, but running for an hour at about 8:00 pace did me a lot of good. I was back on the hill for more punishment on Friday. Not the one I usually go to, but a little back road in Ballintleave, because I needed a gradual downhill stretch for half a mile of downhill strides and the best place I can think of is the Ring of Kerry road between the Red Fox Inn and Caragh Bridge. At 6:30 in the morning that road is still quiet enough to feel safe; I wouldn't like to run on it during the day.

It wasn't entirely ideal; I need a steep road for the high knees drill and the one I found was very short and only gave me about 80 seconds. I tried to make up for it by doing it 3 times. The thigh drive worked better, on a more gradual piece of road, and I can tell a definite improvement in that drill.

The main worry was some discomfort in my left calf muscle during my cool down. It wasn't bad, maybe 3 out of 10 on the pain scale, but it was worrying. Lower leg injuries can easily happen during the hill phase.

Having said that, I did not feel any further discomfort for the rest of the day, so I did another hill workout on Saturday. Last year's program had a tempo run on the program but I changed it, reasoning that for an ultra I need any piece of leg strength I can get. In an attempt to be cautious I only did 2 hill drills, and of course no downhill strides, but I felt the calf again after the initial set of 30-second-sprints. Now I was definitely worried, but the rest of the workout went well, without any further pains.

I spiced up Sunday's long run with a fast finish. I made sure to take it very easy for the first miles, especially on the the big hills. I had a gel in my pocket, intending to take it at mile 12, to give me some fuel for the faster miles, but completely forgot to take it; not entirely surprising as I never take a gel during training. Anyway, I didn't need it. After 12.5 miles I accelerated from 8:00 pace to 7:00 pace and held it for the final 4.5 miles. I won't call it comfortable, that would be a lie. Maybe comfortably hard, whatever that oxymoron is supposed to mean? It felt great to be moving at a higher effort for once and I enjoyed every single step of these miles. In a way, I can't wait for some actual hard work next month.

12 Jan

8 miles, 1:03:33, 7:56 pace, HR 137

13 Jan

10.25 miles, 1:26:14, 8:24 pace, HR 145
   Hill drills: 4x30 sec sprints; high knees (3x80 sec); downhill strides; thigh drive (2x90 sec)

14 Jan

9.25 miles, 1:23:31, 9:01 pace, HR 143
   Hill drills: 4x30 sec sprints; ankles (4 mins); thigh drive (2x90 sec, 1x70 sec)

15 Jan

17 miles, 2:10:59, 7:42 pace, HR 146
   12.5 miles @ 7:58 (HR 143), 4.5 miles @ 5:57 (HR 158)

Weekly Mileage: 74