Laura’s 21-Day Runner’s Reset program has officially ended, but I am still working on implementing several aspects of it. For example, this was the first week I focused on heart rate training and forced myself to do a low heart rate run. It wasn’t fun, but at least I’ve proven to myself that it won’t kill me.
Although the snow stopped falling Saturday night, last weekend’s blizzard impacted my workouts all week. A snow plow didn’t make it to our street until Tuesday, traffic was a mess all week because they didn’t plow all the lanes, and my usual running paths are either still buried in snow or slick with icy spots.
I’m linking up for the Weekly Wrap hosted by Holly at HoHo Runs and Tricia at MissSippiPiddlin, Make sure you check out what others have been up to this week.
Monday: I did one of the treadmill interval programs Laura suggested, focusing on speed. I did 5 sets of 30 second intervals at 8.0 mph (really fast for me)/60 second recovery, 5 sets of 60 second intervals at 7.5 mph/60 second recovery, and another 5 sets of those 8.0 mph intervals. You can see that my heart rate went crazy.
My HR was all over the place!
Tuesday: I did a circuit workout with weights, plus one round of the 10 minute core routine I shared last week.
Wednesday: I decided to beat the traffic into the city and workout at my office gym. I opted for a hill workout on the treadmill, varying the incline up to level 5, mostly at 6.0 mph. First I took 10 minutes to gradually increase the incline (spending 2 minutes at each level before increasing it by 0.5), then I recovered for 2 minutes, then I did 10 minutes of increasing the incline by 1.0 every minute with a recovery minute in between, then I recovered for 2 minutes, and then I did another 10 minutes of the steady, gradual increase.
You can see where I did those recovering minutes.
Thursday: I planned to do a strength workout at the office gym, but after I WOKE UP at 3:52 am (my alarm was set for 4:50) and could not get back to sleep, I decided I had enough time to workout at home and still beat the traffic. Since it was too early to walk the dog, I “warmed up” with an HIIT workout (squats, mountain climbers, lunges, etc.) and then did another circuit workout with weights.
Friday: I thankfully slept until my alarm went off and headed to the office gym. Since I was planning a long run on Saturday, I figured this was the day to try a low heart rate run. I set my pace at 5.0 and varied the incline from 0.5 to 1.0 every five minutes. During the last 10 minutes I tried nudging the pace up to see what would happen to my heart rate.
5.2 mph pushed my heart rate to 75% of max
5.3 mph had my heart rate flirting with 80% of max.
Since I still had the gym to myself when I was done with the treadmill, I also did that 10 minute core routine.
[Tweet “What #Running Does To My Heart Rate”]
The highlight of my workouts this week was meeting Cynthia and Mar for a midday class at CorePower Yoga on Friday. The class was “Core Power Yoga 2” and was my first “hot” yoga class (95-98F). I didn’t love it, but I am going to try to go back next week since I have a week of free classes and I know my body appreciated it.
Saturday: The Facebook page for my Moms Run This Town group was blowing up on Friday with reports about the conditions of the paths and sidewalks along our usual running routes. Since most still had icy sections, I decided to run on the sidewalks in Washington, D.C.
My 8 mile route took me past the White House, the Capital, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and other D.C. tourist attractions.
My heart rate probably stayed lower than usual since I had to slow down for icy spots, traffic lights, and photo ops.
Sunday: When I can’t ride outside, my new Sunday routine is to take a 45 minute Real Ride indoor cycling class at Revolve, and this week was no exception. I go to the 8:00 service at church, and since there’s no singing and only a few people for Communion, I have plenty of time to get to the studio and change before the 9:30 class. 😉
My first race of 2016 is about 5 weeks away, and since it’s a hilly course I plan to focus on hill workouts and hilly long runs. (Did you see my list of the local 10 milers I’ll be doing in 2016?)
Do you have any new goals for February?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
I’ve done heart rate training in the past. It’s taught me to know how I feel when my HR gets too high, especially in warm weather. But I don’t know how well I’d do with low heart rate training.
For the first 10 minutes I wanted to poke my eyes out, but then I got used to it. 😉
I’ve been training with heart rate since I got my first HR monitor over 10 years ago. I feel naked without it, ha ha. I find it keeps me honest in terms of my effort level. It’s also a good way to track your fitness and recovery. Goals for February – start building my run mileage!!! Woohoo!
I really need to pay attention more to my HR more and how much of an effort I’m putting out! How fun to meet up with Mar and Cynthia. I am joining Mar for her #14daysofself challenge and I’m very excited about it! Thanks Coco for linking up with us! Hey don’t I get to have coffee with you this Saturday??
Yes, it’s finally time for our coffee date!
I love core power and would love to meet you there sometime! I always feel fantastic afterwards
Wow! 212 is up there! I started using HR monitoring last year. It is very difficult to keep your heart rate in that lowest zone while running. I find it most helpful to use HR info to keep my long slow runs easy, or conversational. What a picturesque 8 mile run! What a privilege to be able to do that! Thanks for linking Coco!
That’s my plan too. I also should use it to make sure the “recovery” segments of my interval workouts are easy/long enough – I bet they aren’t!
Very interesting. I have not tried to heart rate train but I do monitor mine. It will be all the place on an average run. I have to go way slower than normal to stay under 140. I have noticed since i have been injured, walking barely spikes me even fast walking I stay around 108. It is funny how completely different the activities impact the HR.
Yeah, I have a hard time getting my HR up on the elliptical, and have to work at it during spinning too! I guess it’s the high impact of running that makes such a difference.
I’ve never used a HR monitor but the idea really intrigues me. It seems like using them for basic conditioning can be really beneficial. I haven’t ever tried hot yoga but I’ve gotten really into regular yoga this year. I’m finding I’m getting a lot stronger than I anticipated and it makes me feel very zen-like (even though I’m totally not that kind of person!). 🙂
Yes, me too! I am not a yoga person, but it still dos me good!
Whew! You really got your ticker pumping! I love those kinds of workouts. Keeping HR low can be a challenge for sure. Glad you’re funding some runnable routes after the blizzard!
Not having your usual running routes because of snow and ice is the worst! Someone actually plowed my running trail last weekend, which usually never happens, so I was lucky. Glad you found alternatives!
This year I decided to try heart rate training and since I was joining Laura’s Challenge, the stars seemed to align and point to giving it a chance. At first, it drove me batty to see the times on my Garmin. Now, four weeks in, I have to say that I am embracing the slow pace, am starting to see some progress, and have totally let go of my ego. I think I’m going to stick it through for at least a 12 week cycle and then re-evaluate.
That’s really encouraging to hear that you are seeing progress!
Great week of workouts despite the snow. Good job!
I want to do HR training runs but it feels like I am crawling trying to keep my heart rate in a decent zone-do you find that?
I used to not like heated yoga but love it now!! I do a class Fri mornings and my body and I both love it!
Have a great week!
Yes, I definitely have to go slower than I ever would, even for a warm up. But that’s probably good to learn too!
Wow! Your heart rate was really high at the end of your treadmill intervals. I use a HR monitor but am not sure how to train with it yet. I just like getting an idea of my effort. My February goal is to run more miles than January.
I am working hard on my HR training but it is tough! I tend to stay in the mid 150’s, I will get it eventually 🙂 Interesting post!
Maybe I should start with that goal and work my way down. The mid 130s is tough!
I have heard about heart rate monitoring, but have never ventured into that arena. Another comfort zone thing, ha! I have heard great things about it…it’s probably a great subjective gauge as to what’s really happening, huh! Great job with all that time on the ‘mill!! I have to do intervals (most of the time) or else I’d lose my mind on that device LOL
It’s great that you’re still able to go running when it’s icy out. I know a lot of people avoid the pavement and just stick to the treadmill or worse, nothing at all,
I haven’t trained with a HR monitor in years! I’m actually looking into an activity tracker that has a HR monitor included in it as well. Which one are you using? And would you recommend it?
I have just started regularly wearing my HRM and look forward to playing with it some more. Glad to see it is helpful for you!
The only time I see my heart rate is at Orange Theory, but it really gets up there on those sprints just like yours did.
I’ve never trained with a heart rate monitor, but I love to look at my run stats so I probably would like it. Interesting post! Nice job on your treadmill intervals!
I can’t imagine living somewhere that it snows! I hate the cold so I hope you are staying warm still! I’ve been trying to get into heart rate training but I’ve lost my polar sensor! :[ so I’m just focusing on distance for now. Seems like you get in a lot of runs during the week! Great work! I’m lucky to get one sometimes! I’m not a big fan of cardio all the more reason I have to push myself to get it in!
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It is so hard for me to slow down enough to lower my heart rate! So fun that you met Cynthia and Mar! I went to a yoga class with Mar today!
I’m glad the reset got you rethinking running and paying attention to heart rate. You had an impressive week of workouts- so much variety!
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