Running Update

I haven't talked about my running progress in quite some time. I started training with HRR zones back in February, and gave an early assessmet in March. (Warning: Both posts would work well as sleep inductors, so click with caution.) Also, for those not following along closely, I should probably mention that the 5k I was training for back then was cancelled. I didn't flake. Really.)

So, anyway, I guess it's about time I re-updated. The "ok" news: I still take walk breaks during my zone 3 runs. But I still do much better than I did a few months ago. Here are some charts for comparison. (Have I mentioned how much I love data? Particularly in graphic form? Mmmmm... data....) Anyway, the important part is what's above and below the dashed line. Above is walking; below is jogging.

Here's early March:

Here's late May:

So, you can see a few things are happening. First, I'm stopping much less to walk. Secondly, the stops are much briefer. Thirdly, I tend to hit higher running paces without much more effort. (It actually looks like, if I would just learn to slow down a bit, I might just be able to do a zone 3 base run without walking. But I've tried and it doesn't seem to work. Yet.)

On to the better news. My zone 4 "tempo" runs. (Yeah, yeah, these aren't really tempo runs, per se, but play along, will ya?) Now, this might be a little misleading, so you want to pay attention to the times. The first graph is a 16 minute tempo run. The second, from today, is a 24 minute tempo run. Also, and this is important, any time I had to walk on a tempo run means that I couldn't keep my heart rate out of zone 5. I was red-lining, as some might say. Today, I stuck pretty easily in the middle of zone 4, except for my "sprint" at the end.

March 5:

June 5 (today):

Isn't it pretty? OK, maybe you don't appreciate graphs quite as much as me, and that's OK. But trust me, it's pretty. Really. Oh, just a little bit more data: That 16-minute tempo run? The run portion was run at a 12:38/mile average pace. Today? 12:03, baby.

Do you think it's time to add some interval or fartlek training? Yeah, me too.