Last August, when I ran the Reno 10 Miler, I wasn't sure how to approach the race as it was my first time at that distance, and it was quite hilly. I decided to just run and use my watch solely as a guide rather than the law. What I discovered was that I was able to keep a relatively even pace, and finish faster than I could have if I went by watch time. Unfortunately, it has taken me a long time to apply this method in other races.

In May, I did the American Parkway Half. Like every race I do, I planned for this one to be the race. The race I would break my PR. Honestly, it was a dream race for me. Low elevation (I normally train at about 5000ft), pancake flat course, early start. Despite the perfection on paper, this ended up being one of my worst races, and I'm not just talking about time, I'm talking about the way I felt. I was chained to my watch. I had a plan on exactly what pace I would be at on exactly what part of the course. I planned to start off slow and then speed up. It didn't happen that way, I started off slow and got slower. By the time the halfway point came up where I would generally start to speed up, my body felt like it was running on empty. I was mentally and physically drained. When I approached the 10 mile marker, my mind and body where down and trying to shut down. I did what I swore I would never do in a race, I walked.

If anyone has ever read any of my previous posts, they would know my biggest fear in racing is starting out too fast and having nothing left for the end. That happened at the Parkway Half, and you know what, I'm still alive. Yeah it was horrible while it was happening, but it wasn't the end of the world. Now that that has happened to me, I honestly no longer fear it, and since I no longer feel it, for the past 3 races, I have barely even glanced at my watch. I have been running completely by feel.

If my body says lets speed up, I listen. If it says to slow down, I slow down. The only reason I glance at my watch every now and then is just to make sure I'm not terribly off pace, but if I am, no big deal. I feel like the clock is no longer my enemy. Since adopting this new race style, races have become so much less stressful. I have gone in to each race hoping I do well, but not beating myself up if I don't. I just finished a half last weekend, and I PR'd (a race recap post will follow shortly). I looked at my watch a total of 4 times. Mostly I was looking at it to judge when to take my GU.

I used to look at my watch and think "wow, I'm going this slow ad I feel this tired" or "jeez, I still have this far to go". I found that each time I thought those things, I built up a mental block little by little. Imagine 15 of those thoughts during a 5k. The mind is a powerful thing, and whether you think you can or can't, you're right. Ignorance is bliss sometimes, and in the case of running, it is for me.

GPS watches can shake your confidence, your body knows best

I have actually adopted running by effort into my training runs as well. Easy runs and tempo runs are all done by perceived effort. I have to say, I have never been such a consistent pace runner in my life until now. Now, I'm not saying GPS watches aren't helpful, but I think as runners we rely on this data too much, rather than listening to our internal data.

Moral of the story, trust your body, it knows best. Your watch has no clue how your feeling that day, it doesn't know what kind of shape you are in, it doesn't know the weather. But your body does, and it wont lead you astray. I would challenge everyone to give it a try at least once.

Have you ever ran solely by feel?
If so, how was it?

I am officially a half marathoner (can I say half marathoner? I know people say they’re a marathoner when they finish a marathoner, so why not for a half?) This Sunday was the Downtown River Run. I signed up for the race a few months ago on a whim. This race featured a 5k, 10k, half marathon, and a newly Boston Qualifier full marathon. I really wanted to sign up for the 5k, but I knew this year I wanted to complete a half, so before I wimped out, I signed up quickly. This past week, I was crazy nervous. I would just be sitting and my desk and suddenly want to scream out in excitement and nervousness. I was really worried about not being able to sleep the night before, but surprisingly I slept like a baby (why do people say this when babies are constantly waking up?) a person who sleeps really well.

Begin race recap:

I woke up at about 5:30am. The race didn't start until 8:15, but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to use the bathroom, and digest my food. I arrived at the race at around 7:45. I met up with a friend who was there to cheer me on. She was great at keeping me positive and reminding me how hard I’ve worked. I wasn't really sure if I should warm up before the race because my plan, if executed correctly, was to run slow in the first half and gradually increase during the last half of the race. I decided on a quick little jaunt down the road, it was probably only a .25mi jog, but it helped my nerves a little. Two minutes before the start of the race I lined up near the backish. The national anthem was sung and we were off, right on time! My race plan was to keep the first few miles at about a 9:30/mi pace. The first mile came and went incredibly quickly, I checked my watch 8:57. Dang, I have got to slow it down! The next 3 miles went by equally as quickly and without any problems.

Miles 1-4: 8:57 / 9:22 / 9:27 / 9:27

The next couple miles were a little confusing. This was an out and back course along the Truckee River path, and near the turnaround point we were supposed to come to a fork and go to the right and exit the river path and run on the road by Patagonia, and then loop around into a park and back onto the river path, this was all according to the course map posted online. However, when I approached the fork, runners who had already completed the loop and running back towards me were coming in from the right. So the group of runners I was running with all veered the left and entered the park first. There were no signs or volunteers in the area to direct us which way to go. I told my husband he could wait for me in the park to cheer me on, I told him the time I expected to be in the park, but because we ran through the park first, he was not there. Suddenly I felt kinda sad, I was counting on him to help lift my spirits and keep me going strong. We looped around onto the road and right as I passed Patagonia, there he was with Casper cheering me on (he apparently didn’t feel like going into the park and had only arrived along the street 3 minutes before I approached, perfect timing). His presence worked and I felt refreshed again. During mile 7 there were 2 women who were running right behind me. One of the women must have been really tired because the other woman was coaching her, telling her to imagine the eyes of her favorite person, and think of every detail. She also suggested saying the alphabet backwards. I’ll have to remember some of those “get your mind of the pain and tiredness” tricks.

Miles 5-9: 9:27 / 9:27 / 9:16 / 9:09

During the next few miles, things were starting to go downhill for me (unfortunately the race course was not). Every incline, big or small, felt like a giant mountain. My legs started to feel as if they didn't want to support my weight anymore. It was weird; they didn't hurt or feel that tired, they just felt wobbly. This part of the half marathon is where the real race is supposed to begin, according to some articles I read. Those who started out too fast will start to fade and because I started out slow, I was supposed to fly by them. Hmm, yeah, that didn't happen. I didn't necessarily get passed by that many people, but I think I only passed 3 people total (one was walking). I actually thought about walking during the last two miles, I was mentally and physically done with the race and on an incline, but I knew I would be embarrassed later to tell everyone that I walked, so my pride kept me going. Around this time I checked my Garmin and was trying to do the math to figure out if a sub 2hr race was still possible. I would have to run the next 2 miles in under 9:30 to make it. It was going to be a close one. During this part of the race I was supposed to be steadily increasing my pace until the end. I honestly felt that I was slowing each mile. I rounded the corner to home stretch of the race and I glanced at my watch. It read 1:59:10 already, and I still had the .1 mile to go. In my head, I knew I wouldn't make it. But, there was a runner a little bit ahead of me, so I thought since I wouldn't make my goal, at least I could beat this guy. I took off at a full sprint and passed him, I honestly was going to slow back down, but I thought, eh, what the hey, finish hard. I crossed the finish line feeling like I wanted to pass out. I made sure to stop my watch right as I crossed. Looked down at my time and felt elated. My watch said 1:59:47!!!! I did it! A sub 2 hour half marathon! I am so glad that there was a guy that I really wanted to pass in the end, otherwise I would not have made it.

Miles 10-13: 9:09 / 9:02 / 9:11 / 8:56 / 6:20 (last .1mi)

Rounding the corner to the finish

Looking back at me splits, I apparently was not slowing down when I thought I was in last couple miles. After the race, I collected my medal and met back with Amy and some other runners from the running group I run with. Amy decided to be a race bandit and run the 5k, and Luis placed 3^rd overall in the 5k. I have to admit, during those last 2 awful miles, I was thinking I would never do a half marathon again, only 5k’s for me, but now, I am excited to do my next one.

Amy and I

I was excited to see this one because it looks like I actually
land mid foot!

Official Final results:

Time: 1:59:48

13^th out of 40 in AG; 213^th overall out of 488

I am pretty sure I mentioned before that I am currently in training for my first half marathon on April 13th. This will be my longest race distance to date. I am honestly terrified of running a race distance that long. So much can go wrong (or right) in 13.1 miles. I LOVE 5ks, because not much happens for me in the 3 miles. I either feel good, or I feel bad. And if I feel bad, I’ve only got to struggle through 3 miles. Consequently, if I feel bad during the half, well, that’s a whole other story. However, my goal this year is to think positive. So, like the little engine that could, “I think I can”. I am on my 10th week of training, following a highly tweaked Hal Higdon Intermediate Plan. Last year, my mileage jumped pretty quickly, and as a result I was injured quite often. This year, I have done a lot of research on proper training. As a result I have made some training rules:

1. Running easy on easy days
2. Running even easier during long runs
3. Running hard on hard days
4. Never allowing my long run to exceed more than 35% of weekly mileage
5. Increasing weekly mileage slowly (slightly less than 10%)
6. Weight Training

I know a lot of those rules sound like common sense, but last year, I did not have any “gears” when it came to training. All of my runs were at the same pace except when running intervals. Then, I would just run as fast as I possibly could and then burn out after the 4th or 5th interval. I think that my first year of running was learning a lot of lessons the hard way, and now this year is about running smart. Following these newfound rules, I have remained injury free, which for me is a miracle.

I stayed pretty closely to my schedule this week.

	Scheduled	Actual
Mon	Easy 4.5mi	Easy 5mi
Tues	Tempo 6.5	Tempo 6mi
Wed	Weights	Weights
Thurs	Easy 4mi	Easy 3.25mi
Fri	HM Pace 4mi	HM Pace 4.27mi
Sat	Long 10	Long 10mi
Sun	Weights	Rest
Weekly Totals	29	28.52

I varied very slightly and I wish I would have done weights again on Sunday as scheduled because I think that is one of the main reasons I have been injury free this year so far. It’s something I did not incorporate at all last training cycle. Also, my long run on Saturday was faster paced than I would have liked it to be. I ran with NSET running group and I didn’t want to get left behind. Hope that doesn’t come back to bite me.

I am really excited about next Sunday. I am racing the Leprechaun 5k Race.

Since I just started running consistently last February, it was my very first solo race ever last March. This is going to be a very good indication as how far I have come a s a runner in a years’ time. My time last year was 30:33, I can’t wait to see what I run this year.

I have been wondering lately why I can run 400m easily in 1:10 or 800m in 3:00mins, but I can barely run a 10k in under 55 mins. I know there's a big difference between 400m and 10,000m, but I feel like I should be a little faster. After many weeks of research, I think I have finally found my problem. I have a very weak aerobic system.  When I look at McMillian running calculators predicted race paces after plugging in my 800m time this is what I get: 

These time are predict if I'm correctly trained. I have never been able to run any of these times for any of the races listed above. I think because I have always been a sprinter, I have the speed, but nothing to back it up with. 

In my research I discovered MAF Training. the basis of this training is to run at you 180 formula heart rate This formula was developed by Dr. Philip Maffetone. 

The 180 Formula

To find the maximum aerobic heart rate:

1.Subtract your age from 180 (180 – age).

2. Modify this number by selecting a category below that best matches your health profile:

1. If you have, or are recovering from, a major illness (heart disease, high blood pressure, any operation or hospital stay, etc.) or you are taking medication, subtract an additional 10.

2. If you have not exercised before or have been training inconsistently or injured, have not recently progressed in training or competition, or if you get more than two colds or bouts of flu per year, or have allergies, subtract an additional 5

3. If you’ve been exercising regularly (at least four times weekly) for up to two years without any of the problems listed in a or b, keep the number (180 – age) the same.

4. If you have been competing for more than two years duration without any of the problems listed above, and have improved in competition without injury, add 5.

For example, if you are 30 years old and fit into category b: 180 – 30 = 150, then 150 – 5 = 145.

So my MAF HR is 152. You are supposed to give yourself a 10bpm range, so my range is 142-152.

To start this training you do a MAF test, in which you warm up for 15mins then run at your MAF HR for you desired distance. You are never supposed to let your HR go above this number. You repeat this test on the same exact course every 3-4 weeks to see your improvement. 

I performed this test today, and let me tell you. I was served a hearty helping of humble pie. I honestly felt embarrassed with how slow I had to run jog. I think a lady with a walker blew past me. My test results were as follows:

Mile 1 - 11:53

Mile 2 - 11:17

Mile 3 - 12:12

Mile 4 - 13:08

Average pace 12:10/mi and average heart rate 151

As you can see I was keeping it really close to my MAF HR. According to Dr. Maffetone, it is normal for the mile paces to decrease every mile. During mile #1 I was running downhill, and the final mile was uphill. 

I have been running at a low HR for the past week and so far what I have noticed about this type of training is:

1. I sometimes have to walk uphills to keep the HR down
2. My legs get really tired during these runs.
3. It is going to take a lot of patience and discipline to keep up the slow pace

Regarding #2, it's weird that my legs are fatiguing. The only reason I can think of why this may be happening is because my slow-twitch muscles are not used to being activated.

I am putting a lot of faith in this training. I guess I technically have nothing to lose. I'm not an elite athlete that has to be ready for some big race. I am training for a half marathon in April, so I am kind of training backwards, but I will need the aerobic strength to complete the race. It will be my longest race to date. I hope to come in under 2 hours, but it is a soft goal.

Have any of you trained at a low HR?

What were your results?