Monday, August 5, 2013

Good workout, poor metrics

I had a great workout this morning, even though I did not set Runmeter up properly. Magellen, on the other hand, my temperamental problem child - worked better then it has on the roads around my home. It must be a gps signal issue of some kind. I just turned it on, and let it go. I had pre-programmed Runmeter for 100's. But clearly, I did not do it correctly. I was setting features that I had not used before, and really had no clear clue as to what their purpose was. Things like "dampen fastest pace" and "filter GPS errors" and "summarizes into". Oh well.
I did something similar to ER's speed run yesterday. But my tempo run was not really a tempo run. I set it up for a tempo, but I don't think the announcements were guiding me through what my intentions were. Either way, I'll have to re-visit and re-vamp my activity profiles and set them up in a way that makes more sense to me. The only thing that was similar to ER's speed work was that I ran 3 miles before attempting 100's. I actually had more energy than I thought I would. And even though Runmeter was confusing the hell out of me, what I was able to discern was the time it took me to run 100 meters. I was running anywhere between 21 to 23 seconds. I have no idea if that is good or not. I think Bolt runs 100m in 10 seconds. I don't know what a 53 year old woman of moderate athletic ability should be running.

I did 7 full on and one last, half-assed 100. Because Magellan is so hard to read, I found a site called Unit Juggler that converted my seconds into min/mile pace. I was quite surprised to see that I ran those 100's anywhere between 5.6 to 6.2 min/mile pace. Holy crap. Here is what my Magellan graph looked like, from the warmup, to the 3 miler, to the intervals.


  
So, what are the implications of not so much running faster during 100m, but being able to train myself to run at a quicker pace for a longer distance?  I guess that's why the Yasso 800's are so important. Ugh. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. I was able to keep my heart rate under 180 during all the intervals, which is important to me. I've read too much literature on the dangers of staying at an elevated heart rate for too long a time, from training to training, and year after year.

Well, I'll have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a way to track my interval training a little better, and to maybe do 100's and 400's next time.
Did I mention I love running on a track?

Problem Child Magellan - entire run
Runmeter Data - 3miles

2 comments:

  1. Intervals will help your longer distance speed, but the results aren't instantaneous. If you include speed work weekly or bi-weekly, you will see an improvement in your longer run paces. I spent much time on the track four years ago and benefited, but grew bored of it after a while. I replaced weekly speed workouts with trail runs around then. I may have lost some speed because of that, but I still prefer the trails!

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    Replies
    1. I would like to do it weekly, but my quads are still recovering. I imagine I'll have less muscle soreness over time, as long as I remember to ramp up and not start out like gangbusters.

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