Running is supposed to be enjoyable, right? I'm just kidding, of course it isn't. I go running because I want to stay in shape and be on top of my cardiovascular health, I do not actually enjoy it and if there are some people out there that do like it, well I hope I can find that spark that you have one day.
After getting accidentally under 7 minutes per kilometer on my last run I figured I would push it a little bit on the next trial and see what I am capable of.
Well, push I did and got an amazing time that is likely a PB for me in the past 5 years but the cost was pretty staggering, literally.
You ever been running a 5k or whatever distance and the last 200 meters seem longer than the entirety of the rest of the run? Well that was me yesterday. I kept checking the watch - which is a mistake - and it seemed like it was only counting 1 out of every 10 of my steps. I suppose in some way this helped me get a better time because I put my head down and ran even faster purely to get it over with. As soon as my watch vibrated to inform me that the 5k was done I immediately wiped off my thumb on one of the only dry spots on my shirt and clicked to end the run.
It was at that point that I realized exactly who taxing running at this pace actually is for me.
You can see here that over the 35 minutes or so my heart rate was on a gradual climb and there is probably some science explanation for why that is. My body was struggling to keep up with providing my body with the necessary circulation and if you believe the "max heart rate" calculations, mine is right around 175. If that is indeed true, there is no surprise why I felt light-headed and like I needed to sit down when I was finally done. My legs felt like rubber but I journeyed forth because I had no choice, I was around 4km from my house at that point.
I am pleased that I was able to remain somewhat consistent with my splits and I know why I went from 6:40 to 6:22. It is because my watch struggles to give me an actual real-time measurement of how fast I am moving at that particular moment and normally will make me feel like I am moving too slow. When I looked down and it said I was running around 7:30 I have no idea where it got that measurement from and therefore I picked up the pace feeling as though I was somehow moving slower than I am capable of. I kind of fell into a "stride" that I don't need technology to figure out. It felt comfortable but also it felt comfortable for that particular time, as time went by it became increasingly difficult for me to maintain that pace as is evidenced by my growing heart rate over time.
Since I am training for a longer run coming up later this year, I think that this would be a terrible strategy moving forward. I need endurance, not a 5k PB.
So going forward I am going to focus on finishing a 10k without stopping and in order to do that I am going to have to slow way the hell down with my pace.
I think on my next run I will focus on keeping my heart rate at around 150 the entire time instead of concerning myself with how fast I am moving.
Some of you more experienced runners out there... is this a good strategy for distance training? Sure, I could ask the internet, but I would prefer to ask people that I kind of "know."