A great long run...

My long runs so far aren't really that long, as I'm being quite careful about building the mileage back up slowly and steadily. That said, the 13 km I did yesterday is the longest I've ran in 2009. It was perfect weather, as I waited until later in the afternoon and therefore didn't get caught in the noon-time deluge that probably would have drowned me. I averaged 6:16 min/km for the run at an average heartrate of only 139. The heartrate is what gets me - I've never been able to run at that pace for that distance with that little effort. It's glorious!

Totals for the week:
Monday: rest
Tuesday: Bootcamp and 5.5 km of rowing
Wednesday: Hills (6X) - 7.25 km
Thursday: Steady 6km
Friday: Tempo 6km, 1.5 km warmup
Saturday: Steady 5km and weights
Sunday: Long 13 km

Total: running (38.7 km), weights (1x), bootcamp (1x), rowing (5.5 km)

On the road again...

...after three days of travelling around New Brunswick with the girlies. I had hoped to get some runs in while away, but it didn't happen. Between long days visiting with old friends, taking the girls on hikes, sight-seeing, and a few too many drinks each night, the runs just didn't happen. Oh well.

I got back on the program today with my 10 K long run. The pace range for my long runs is broad - 5:53 - 6:38 min/km and I'm aiming for the slower end, so I've got the Garmin set to annoy me outside of 6:25 - 6:35. Unfortunately I'm having a hard time holding the speed down to that range and the average speed for the run was 6:22. Not bad, and a little better than last week's 6:17 average pace on my 6 K "long" run. Good news - I'm getting slower!

I am quite happy that I managed to keep my heart rate nice and low at this speed - average of 146 and after the first five minutes or so when it was strangely high (~ 160), it was really quite consistent in the 145-150 range.

I'm really happy the T is running now, too. She managed to get all of her runs in this week and I really think that she's feeling good about it. Her excitement about running is motivating for me, too. I hope she keeps it up.

Toodles.

Long runs on treadmills and the first week done...

I finished the first week of training with my 13 km long run, on a treadmill because the weather outside is frightful. (Cue music...) A shade over 13 km in 1:12:24 (5:34 min/km) with an average heartrate of 157, according to my Garmin, which is reduced to a heart rate monitor during treadmill runs. This is quite a lot lower than last week's 163, which I think I can attribute to issues you have to fight running outdoors - wind and topography, as well as the slightly slower pace. I ran today with the 'mill on a steady 1° incline, however the hills around here are appreciably greater than 1°.

Weekly totals: 33:2 km running and 15.9 km rowing. A good week.