Slooooooowwwwwwww Runnin'

Today was the first HR recovery run since I've returned to the fold. And it was a wildly eye-opening experience. What is a HR recovery run? Well, there is some discussion amongst training peeps that you should stick very carefully to a low HR range for recovery runs, even if it means almost crawling along on your run. There is further discussion about what "low" means in relation to HR. It gets to be pretty confusing and contradictory if you go between the various HR running gurus.

However, I've decided on what "low" means to me, given my current max HR and waking HR, and for me, that means trying not to get too far over 155. For me, that's around 60-65% range (my max is a scary 202 bpm, and my waking pulse is 48). Not so long ago, I could cruise around at that HR range at a running pace of somewhere around 9:30/mile, and sometimes quicker if the weather was nice and chilly. Tonight? Well.....

I was way too stiff and sore this morning to go out for an early run, so I gently stretched, did some foam rolling, and worked out some of that junk instead. After the day had run its course, I eased out at 7:15pm for 30 minutes of carefully monitored HR running. And off I went. Keeping a careful eye every couple of minutes, I managed to find the pace that kept the HR number at 155 or below, for the most part. Imagine my surprise when my first mile "split," if one can call it that, was 10:57. Wow! Continuing on, I turned in a second mile in 11:21 (some hilly stuff that forced even more slowdown on the inclines), and a last .77 miles at 10:39 pace.

Totals were 2.77 miles at an average of 11:00/mile. Golly! Sure, my average HR was 155 for the full run, so I did that properly, but that's darned slow compared to just a few months ago, before the dark days of late February and March. There is much work to be done, that's for sure.

On the good side, I stuck to the required workout plan, discovered some things about my current shape, and my legs felt pretty good once I was finished. A nice stretching session later, and all things considered, it was a good workout.

So, I have a ways to go to recover my former fitness, but it will come. I have to become reacquainted with the gym, too, so that I can burn off the anatomical goo more efficiently. I'll keep you apprised of my progress. I will not mention things like my weight, but let's just say that when you keep eating like a marathoner, but you are training like a truck driver, certain things happen to you. They are mostly not great. :-) Time to kick up the old internal physiological furnace once again!