About Killed Me - June 30, 2010

I got a late start to this run. I'm usually finished by 7:00, but I didn't start this 5-miler until 7:00. It was 82 degrees, but felt nowhere near as hot as the 80 degrees was the other day. Since it was later in the day, more of my route was in the shade and there was a nice little breeze. I contribute a lot of the success of this run to the weather.

I started off real easy, and after the first half mile, I was feeling great. Mile 1 was 8:51. I was a little amazed, because I started off with a fast trot that felt really comfortable. I decided to try to keep up this pace for the entire run, knowing full well how my times drop off at the end. I didn't look at my mile 2 time during the run, (it was 8:31). I looked at mile 3. It was 9:06, but I noticed that my pace was under 9:00 - 26:28! I told myself, "If I can keep this pace, I can finish with a 9:00." I had to push, because I felt it slipping. I didn't look at my time for Mile 4, because I didn't hear the beep - a loud truck had evidently gone by at that time. I knew about where Mile 4 was, so I knew I had passed it. Now, push, push, push.

I didn't know how my time was running and this run was ending uphill. I had ran a little ways past my turnaround, because a vehicle was coming, so I was ending uphill instead of downhill. When I knew I had less than a half mile to go, I ran hard. Real hard. My insides felt like they were trying to escape from my body. I wanted to stop - at least slow down - so badly. Today, though, I wanted to break the 9:00 barrier on this 5 mile run even more. So, I kept running. What I didn't realize was how far I had to go. I thought with the extra I ran past the turnaround, when I got to that certain mailbox, it wouldn't be much further. It seemed like a mile itself. I was doing my best to "run"!

Oh, what a relief when I heard the beep for 5 miles completed! I tried to catch my breath and maintain my feet as I looked at my watch - 43:11! Almost 2 minutes under what I had hoped for. Mile 4 was my fastest, but it felt like my slowest, at 8:20. Mile 5 was right behind at 8:23, and it hurt like crazy!

My pace was 8:38.

My heart rates: 178 avg, 198 max, 70 rest. This is the highest max I've had since I've been keeping up with it. Previously, the high was 193. * If I use a formula from the 1970's, my maximum heart rate should be 180 (220 - my age). If I use a more recent formula, my max heart rate should again be 180 (208 - (my age x 0.7)). And I'm at 198?

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* from Runners World online: "In order to effectively train in zones, you first need to know your maximum heart rate. Many people use the formula 220 minus your age--but that equation, it turns out, was just a rough estimate made in the early 1970s by researchers with the U.S. Public Health Service, who based it on studies that included smokers and patients on heart-disease medication--not your typical runner. Even recent attempts to produce a revised formula (208 - [0.7 x age] is one example) are still off by more than 10 beats for a third of the population."