T-minus 100 days until the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run...
Tonight I went on my first run in about two years. It was pretty cold, somewhere in the low 30s. My plan was to jog until my heart rate hit 160, walk till it got below 130, rinse and repeat. I also brought "The Stick" in case my legs tightened up -- which they did after the third running session. I spent a couple minutes on my calves, and by then my pulse was down below 130 so I set off again.
I felt good. My calves were feeling better and my form was much better. I found myself picking up the pace. My pulse quickly hit 160, but I didn't care. I was going to push this one. 165, 170, 175, and I showed no signs of stopping. I was breathing hard, sprinting ahead, holding the Stick in my right hand like it was a baton and I was on the last leg of a relay race.
I crossed 180. Usually I'd pull back around now, but tonight I didn't want to. Before the run, I had estimated that my max heart rate was about 186 -- and I wanted to see if that was true. 182, 184, 186... 187! I held it there for a couple more seconds, before I felt my body pulling back. 187 -- the hardest I'd pushed things in years.* I walked the quarter mile back to my apartment, tired yet energized all at once.
100 days to go.
--
*Even when biking 13 miles to work, I never got my pulse that high; the highest I usually pushed it was into the mid-170s. There was one time a month or two ago, however, when I decided to sprint up the entire Dupont Circle escalator. I wasn't wearing a heart rate monitor, but I probably got very close to 187 that day too.
**If you click through to the web site, you may notice my pace was pitifully slow. This is normal. Anyway I am just working on conditioning right now. Speed will come...... eventually.
No comments:
Post a Comment