NOTICEABLE PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE

Recent speed workout, 8x400m intervals on the roads.

Greetings, fair reader! I'm pleased to report progress is being made. While it has been slower than I would have liked, I am getting into better shape and runs that should be easy are starting to get easier. Yesterday I was able to run four miles at a 10:30 pace with a heart rate of 158. That's not great - BUT that is much better than a month ago. A run at that pace would have spiked my heart rate into the high 160s/low 170s. I no longer feel breathless on "easy" runs. And while I still have on and off days, the average fitness i am seeing is definitely going up!

Also, my long runs have moved back to the normal ten miles. The first time I ran ten it was pretty tough! Miles 8 and 9 were definitely a slog and pushing myself. My legs ached. The next weekend, only mile nine sucked. The legs felt a little better. This last week? Ten was basically no big deal. Legs were a little tired but not bad at all. Each time I go and do it, it gets easier. So that's all very encouraging. Again, I am slower and my heart rate is a little higher than I would like, but all the trends are in the right direction.

Mostly, I am just running by feel. It is too easy to be discouraged and not enjoy the actual run if I am eagle eyeing my watch for pace and heart rate, so I've turned it to the time of day many times and just ran by feel. Then, most the time when I am done, I look at the stats and I am right where I wanted to be anyways. So much better than fussing about it the whole run! Sometimes, less is truly more. It's also kind of funny how consistent I can be even without the watch... they don't call me The Metronome for nothing!

Lastly, I have been doing one speed workout at week. First, it was a two mile tempo bookended by mile long warm up and cool downs. Then I bumped it to three miles with half mile bookends. Last week I did 8x400 "street intervals," alternating jogging and sprinting every quarter mile. At some point soon I'll do a full four mile tempo run. These runs are hard but feel good once they are over. It is the kind of hard work I need to put in if I want to get faster and try to claw my way back to something resembling my fitness last year.