Three times each week, since February, doing only the barest minimum of journaling. About the most I'm doing is keeping track with my GPS/HRM, and even that was out of the equation for a while during replacement by Garmin.
Saturday morning in September now, and I'm about to go out for a 9+ m run. Once again it has occurred to me to do long-slow, emphasis on slow.
As my miles build up my instincts are to focus on my pace, enjoying the thought of bringing it down. This is especially true since placement of my cardiac stents in January. At some level of my consciousness I'm monitoring what kind of condition am I--especially my heart--in, and if I'm perfectly honest with myself I can see that I'm reading my pace as an indication of that. ""Faster is better."
Mistake.
It means that every run turns into a semi-race. With myself.
Thursday I realized what I was doing, and changed focus--back to slow. Kept my HR in Zone 2 for 55 min of a 68 min run. What discipline it takes!
So for this morning's long run I'm heading for the flatlands--first time in months I've done a long run in Boulder. I'll do Eagle Trail-Res, staying in Zone 2 again.
My earlier posts indicate successful cross-country runners stay in Zone 1 71% of their time. That's <60% HRmax. With my meds that would put me at a pace of under about 110. I can't do it.
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