Keeping Pace

Good morning.

Time keeps on slipping slipping slipping into the futurrrre. The days are flying by. Before you know it March will be here and tulips will awake and poke their little heads through the thawing dirt. Bushes will start to bud. I've already noticed some buds on trees and bushes are getting bigger. Ready to welcome spring.

Yesterday's 11 mile run along frosty Lake Michigan was interesting. I was not sure what I wanted the objective of this run to be. Per Hal's Boston Bound program it was supposed to be a marathon pace run. I did one of those earlier in the week. So, I made up my mind to play it by ear as I ran.

Once I got going I decided to do a marathon pace run to solidify that pace in my body and mind. But, I also decided to do one fast mile in the middle of my run and one near the end. That extra fast mile would be on the lakefront path. So, I cruised along at MP until I hit mile 4 on the lakefront path and that is when I decided to run hard for one mile.

I took off. I monitored the Garmin. I love this Garmin and I will honor it with accolades as a key training partner. I ran fast but the footing was very iffy. The pathway was not ice free. Surprising because Chicago usually takes such good care of it. I also had some slight inclines to deal with as I steamed southbound. At times I had to slow down and run over broken icebergs. It was a tough mile. The pace for that fifth mile ended up being 6:37. I feel, with a flat track and no ice I could have done this in 6:20 or less. I was trying to get an idea of my max heart rate during this experiment. The results were not what I expected. Even though I felt spent my average HR was 148 and max 155 bpm. So, this experiment failed in regards to max heart rate data. On another positive note it means I have a lot of room to grow speed wise.

Other than that I kept my marathon pace the rest of the way. It was tough because of all of the ice on walkways. many strides were like peeling out, slippery. A good workout. Garmin data below.

Split Time Distance Elevation Gain Elevation Loss Avg Speed Max Speed Avg HR Max HR Steps Calories
1 0:08:54 1 20 72 8:54 7:08 152 172 0 16
2 0:07:54 1 23 26 7:55 6:10 134 139 0 89
3 0:07:50 1 56 30 7:50 6:09 133 142 0 78
4 0:07:46 1 10 56 7:46 4:09 136 145 0 86
5 0:06:37 1 16 20 6:37 5:48 148 155 0 78
6 0:07:55 1 16 16 7:55 6:47 135 154 0 81
7 0:07:56 1 98 69 7:56 6:17 139 146 0 75
8 0:07:55 1 108 89 7:55 6:20 139 145 0 84
9 0:07:53 1 39 52 7:53 7:00 135 142 0 70
10 0:07:31 1 26 26 7:31 6:34 142 148 0 78
11 0:07:52 1 33 36 7:52 6:45 143 148 0 86
12 0:00:03 0.01 -- 0 9:42 9:11 141 141 0 1
Summary 1:26:12 11.01 446 495 7:50 4:09 139 172 0 822



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" Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."

* It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before... to test your limits... to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” - Anais Nin