Friday, June 19, 2009

Friday 15 miles

am) 11 miles easy effort. HR avg. 142 but it was way high in relation to effort. Expected after a rest. I also slipped on my hydration last night out of laziness, which is a poor choice. I still averaged 7:38 pace though- showing that I'm getting to the point in my fitness where even a terrible run blows away my 'best' runs from 2 months ago.
I will be on the track at Fairview tomorrow morning at 6:45am to run an aerobic time trial if anyone is interested.

pm) 4 miles super easy with HR max 130. Walked a bit during this.

7 comments:

Matt said...

Are you testing every week?

And what's a good day before a test if you catch my drift?

Bike ride today 3 hrs, avg. HR 140 but it went over 160 on some climbs.
Does that hurt my progress?

Lucho said...

I'm testing every week and including some harder efforts afterward. Today I'm going to try and run some intervals at HR 165 and see where my pace is.
A good day? For me it doesn't matter- good or bad. It is what it is. Even a poor test result is a result and you can learn a ton from it. I would say to test on relatively fresh legs though.
I'll assume because you are asking ME this question- you aren't looking for the answer that you simply want to hear :). Going over 160 on some climbs probably won't hurt progress much, but it shows a lack of faith in the method and a lack of discipline. If you are truly interested in being your best- then it was wrong. If you want to have fun and just mess around, then it won't hurt you.
I tend to get this question a lot. If you should be riding at HR 135-145 (which is probably close to the correct range for you), then 146 is incorrect. Is that one heart beat going to ruin your season, of course not. But it simply shows a lack of respect for the details of the process. And the devil is in the details. I would bet money that this 'attitude' is showing up all across your training logs and diet. If you are flubbing these small details frequently on all things training- then they may be adding up. My belief in regards to my own training makes me believe that in order for me to run my goal marathon pace I need to do everything as close to 100% perfect as I can. And I don't think this is limited to just making the biggest fitness gains, I think it lends itself to me toeing the line in Chicago KNOWING that I prepared meticulously, and this gives me confidence. It starts to become a mental edge. Flubbing small details shows a lack of discipline- regardless of the physical impact. If you truly believe in the training methodology, then why break the rules?

Matt said...

Nice. I figured as much. I just need to "soften" those climbs, so I can get out on big rides between runs.

I do respect the process, as much as I respect your approach, candor and generosity.

Have a great weekend.

Lucho said...

The outstanding aspect of this process is the preparation of your body to be able to absorb hard efforts. When you aren't aerobically fit (like I was in January)you go too hard and it doesn't improve fitness for a long endurance event. Spend the time to get aerobically fit, then you can let loose on a hard climb, kill it, then afterward you absorb it and get stronger. It's just too much too soon.
It's critical to do some higher intensity training, but not until you are fit enough to benefit from it. The mistake I see VERY often is athletes getting impatient and they 'go for it', which basically just keep them in the same place with their fitness.
Another thing to look at, and be very honest with yourself about, is that is you have to basically walk up a hill in order to keep HR down then this is a very good indication that you have little aerobic fitness, it's a sign of your weakness. Running harder does not correct this weakness! In fact it make it even weaker. Be patient, get aerobically fit, then you can kill it.
For you- 160 HR seems very high on the bike... I would guess this is just below LT maybe? Even when I was super fit on the bike, in my base periods I never broke HR 155.
Cheers!

FatDad said...

Relevant post on Chuckie's website this week about peaking early and going into race day KNOWING that you are fit vs. peaking later and wondering if you are. I think the same mental benefit applies with training discipline and protocol. I remember reading a quote from Simon Whitfield before Beijing that said he wanted to toe the line in Beijing knowing that he had done everything he could to prepare himself to win so that he wouldnt look at the next guy over and wonder if they had done something that he hadn't. Shannon Rowbury said the same thing in an interview not long ago, that you have to pay attention especially to the little things. Everyone covers off the big stuff but champions are relentless about the details.

Lucho said...

Dad who is not fat- I consider Mark Allen and Lance Armstrong my two biggest motivators when it comes to my running. They both were meticulous and they both had their "check lists" leading in to Kona and the TDF. They listed all the things they could improve in their life in order to reach their goals, then went about checking them off. I really think this concept is not limited to elite athletes though. We can all do this with every aspect of our life. One on my list is how to be the best runner I can be and not sacrifice my relationships with my wife and kids.
Word

FatDad said...

Word. That's been a challenge for me as well It's lead to me running at all sorts of ridiculous hours of the day/night to protect that time with the fam.
I should also add that the vast majority of people I know could benefit tremendously by keeping it simple. The details are critical assuming that you've covered off the basics first!
Eat some veggies, get enough sleep, quit smoking, get off the sauce, then worry about whether you should buy some acai berry juice or mangosteen juice or whatever silver bullet happens to be in vogue at the moment.
Athletes, I find, are particularly guilty of this which is one of the reasons I find this blog, and Chuck's blog, so enjoyable to read.
Wearing compression socks makes little sense if you're squeezing 20extra pounds of leg into them.