I'm kind of wondering what I just spent several hundred Euros on, after all I already had a certain inkling that I'm reasonably fit, but then again it's a lot better to be told that you're fit and healthy than to be told that you're sick and wasting away. I am healthy and I am still able to run, and 2 weeks ago I would gladly have given away every single cent I own to get such an outcome, so what's a few hundred quid!
Having said that, no sooner had I found out that I am a scientifically certified picture of health that I started developing a sore throat. Once more that's not entirely surprising as Maia has been coughing a lot recently and a 7 year old isn't always aware where she is coughing at, so somebody was bound to catch it and it happened to be me. But I am very much aware that my heart scare 2 weeks ago was most likely triggered by some viral infection that I had caught from my other daughter and obviously I'm not particularly keen on a repeat. I was a bit anxious before my run this morning because while I was feeling reasonably fine I definitely was not 100%, which is pretty much how I had felt before that episode but I got through 12 miles just fine, despite the wind and weather.
Running at Maffetone intensity is becoming easier, though I think that's mostly down to me getting used to it rather than the body adapting to the training. I can now run up most hills without the alarm triggering. This morning was very windy and while I had it on my back for the first 6 miles I kept wondering how I would get back home fighting against the headwind while trying to keep my HR down, but when it finally came to it I found it surprisingly easy.
My initial plan for Wednesday had been to do an evaluation but the weather had me change my mind; evaluations just don't work very well in windy conditions because that plays havoc with my HR. I considered running it on Tuesday but decided that I should see the cardiologist in a more rested state (in the end it wouldn't have made any difference). The forecast is for a few more days of high winds and I decided that it's better that way anyway, I'll do strict Maffetone training for another week before breaking it for an evaluation - the HR for the 4 miles of the evaluation is 20 beats higher than the Maffetone threshold!
- 15 Dec
- 10 miles, 1:23:01, 8:18 pace, HR 133
- 16 Dec
- 10 miles, 1:23:30, 8:21 pace, HR 134
- 17 Dec
- 12 miles, 1:38:46, 8:13 pace, HR 132
Great to hear you have got the all clear.
ReplyDeleteGetting tuned into running at low intensity is great development. As you'll be racing at 9 min/mile pace as slower in the 24hr my suggestion would be to design a "workout" to do as a race pace evaluation. Such a test would help you track how your running economy is improving at race pace.
I'd do this as well as the 160bpm evaluation that you've been doing - this test you nearer your lactate threshold and likely a good test of general aerobic fitness, and running economy at around marathon pace.
An alternative to doing a specific evaluation would be to simply recovered how many beats or calories that you consumed for a given route at different intensities, for the 24hr race pace I'd guess this would be an average HR below 130.
Great news! Roll on the World Championships...
ReplyDeleteNice to hear you'll be running for a long time yet😉 it's definitely the type of news that makes for a good Christmas.👍
ReplyDeleteExcellent news Thomas. Worth the few hundred quid for peace of mind I say. Training in a relaxed state and all that. Nice going with the Maffetone running - will be doing that myself coming back from my viral infection. Only problem is the alarm is stuffed on my 305!
ReplyDeleteGreat news Thomas. The world and it's father knows you are very fit. That was never in any doubt. Maffetone is the way to go. What else would you need for a 24 hr. Are you following a specific/outline programme?
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