Photo courtesy of Andrew King - D4 Productions

Monday, December 22, 2008

13 myles - 1.34:03

HR urban trail - Noon
upper 20s, slight North wind, partly cloudy
mind/body - clearing up
easy effort

This truly was an "easy" effort. My methods in the past to measure effort have basically been rudimentary but having a coach has shed some light. Paul told me if it's an easy effort then I should be breathing in during 3 steps and then breathing out for the next 3 - exactly measured 3 steps several times during the run today. Today I also measured my stride rate/length for efficiency - very efficient runners should be hitting around 180/minute. I measured 5 different times - one foot for 30 seconds x 4 = strides/minute. I hit 44, 44, 45, 43, 46 which gives me a stride rate/min of 176-180. I've always considered myself as an efficient runner so this rate comes as no surprise.

Prescribed workout - 1.30 easy effort with 8-10 strides at the end

Actual workout - 13 myles 1.34:03 easy effort for an average of 7:14/mile. This route has a little elevation and the trails were a little mucky with snow/ice/mud so I feel very good about this pace. Afterward I did 6 strides of about 20 seconds each. The cold is slowly making it's way out so all I'm left with now is a sniffling/stuffy nose. I actual felt better running than I did laying around the house this morning.

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