23k! Finally breaching the "over halfway" point of the distance runs! And with just 11 weeks until my first full marathon is completed...that is, unless my knee dictates my training plan (meaning unless I have to bail out because my knee is aggravating me.
I ran the same place as my 19k from last week...an out and back through beautiful Fish Creek park. I'm definitely noticing some improvements (and some not improvements) since I started heart rate training!
Improvement #1: when I hit the 19k this week, I was over 2 minutes faster (~6sec/km faster).
Improvement #2: while last week I noticed a decline in my pace (indicating fatigue) at just over 12km, today I noticed it at the 17km mark!
Non-improvement #1: the last 5k - and particularly the last 3k - were just brutal for me! I had to slow my pace down from between 8.10-8.20 to over 9min, with the last 2km being 9.47 and 9.59 respectively! I just could not get my heart rate to drop, and had to take frequent (short) walk breaks. Gaaa! So frustrating!
Non-improvement #2: because of this, my overall pace stayed the same as last week, meaning my speed hasn't improved.
Total time: 3h16min00sec
Total distance: 23.00km
Average pace: 8.31min/km
Average HR: 134bpm (69% of max)
It was a tough, tough run. I think I have been eating too much junk food this weekend, and I went out to a fancy dinner with my family on Saturday night. Unfortunately for the first 12km of my long run I was feeling very bloated, very gassy, and very uncomfortable. My tummy finally settled down on the way back. Although I was planning to do some nutrition experimentation this run, I couldn't bring myself to down any of the gels I brought because of all my stomach issues. I did try drinking the pop (recommended by our nutritionist as an alternative option), but this did not work for me at all. Even though I'd pre-stirred it before putting it into my fuel belt container, it was still too fizzy for me to handle. Also, the jostling of the container due to my run resulted in excess fizzing, which then resulted in a minor amount of minor pop spillage down my backside. Great.
My friend later suggested it was because I'm not a pop drinker at the best of times, so of course I wouldn't be able to handle it well on a long run! Duh! Makes complete sense to me. So, the pop is out. Next week I'll try with some juice instead, which can be just as sweet and calorie-laden, but which I know I can tolerate much better than pop.
But good news on the knee front: I now am back to full flexibility of my right leg with no knee pain, and I had zero knee pain during the entire run!
So how am I liking the heart rate training? It's tough! I want to go so much faster than I'm allowed, and I find it frustrating...and a bit lonely. But admittedly my long runs are much easier both before (psychologically) and during (physically) because I'm not pushing myself to exhaustion. And I find it encouraging that I'm seeing improvements. I am clinging to that small hope that this is the key to breaking through my plateau, and trying not to get upset with how slow I'm going, and how slow the improvements are coming.
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