Y Saturday

I was back to the Y for another LSD yesterday.    Did a more even effort then last week with a 5:46 avg pace vs 5:50 avg pace a week ago through 30K.    This time I did a 5K cool down VS 3K last week.  

Looking at the graphical data when the HR increased and I started to fatigue my cadence dropped....

 For the first hour I was running somewheres around a 5:40 pace and the HR  remained in Zone 2 131 to 141 bpm ...

Zone 2: 70-80% of threshold heart rate: A light intensity effort level where you can still hold a conversation. Use it: for easy/recovery runs, warm up and cool down.

In the 2nd and 3rd hour I more or less pushed into Zone 3 which is where I need to be for maximum "training affect" 142-158 bpm ....

Zone 3: 80-90% of threshold heart rate: A moderate intensity effort level where you begin to hear your breathing, but you can still talk in sentences. Use it: long runs, training runs.

I don't ever get to "Zone 3" in my short runs ( 10K or less) which really demonstartes the need for the weekly LSD Run.   

First 30K by numbers ....

At 30K I reset the Garmin then went on to walk for a K ,  run  albeit slow for 2K then walked 2K.   HR tells the story...

Getting going again after running for awhile can be quite difficult.  Things hurt and running feels unnatural.   Yesterday when I walked the 31st K I was eating and drinking catching up on hydration and nutrition. When I started running again it felt great ...not awkward or hard but I was more around a 7:00 pace vs a 6:00 pace .  I refer to that as "changing gears".   I felt like I could have easily continued for another couple of hours but I had things I wanted to do and I stopped satisfied that I got the maximum training affect out of the long run .  Even Garmin agrees giving me a "Training affect " score of 4.4...yippee!