Running Status

My ouchie foot is all better now. I ran twice with the old shoes that I cut a hole in. Then I went back to my regular running shoes.

My run splits this year have been slower than last year. The main differences between last year and this year in my running are:

• I weigh 10 pounds more. I’ve seen women alot heavier than me fly past me (running) in races, tho. Goal: try harder to lose those ten pounds!
• I don’t do any core training. I did alot last year. Goal: start doing crunches every day.
• I do only minimal stretching to address my tight spots (hamstrings and ITband). I did tons of stretching last year. I don’t feel like I have to change anything here.
• I was using my HR monitor last year, and I was generally trying to be in the right zone for each run. This year, I followed a similar training plan in terms of workouts, but only used pacing targets instead of HR. Goal: start using my HR monitor again.

Gale Bernhardt’s book, Training Plans for Multi sport Athletes, says to do a 3 mile running test, either on a treadmill or on the track, or run a 5k race. I actually did find a decent treadmill for sale on craigslist. I’m picking it up tomorrow and will do the running test over the weekend.

I created an excel spreadsheet (see link below) to show some key heart rate data from last year. Looking at the track workouts, and comparing the last two entries (a year apart), it is interesting that I can’t acheive the same HR level as last year. I’ve always felt my lungs were the limiting factor in my running, and this year it seems worse. If I run too hard and my breathing gets out of control, then I have a difficult time recovering even if I slow back down.

Excel Spreadsheet of Training Progress