Burn, Baby, Burn!
My weight seems to have leveled off again at 192. I did 16 miles on Sunday by myself on Vancouver Island - visiting ma mere - and part of the route was a two mile climb, which left me with a little quad stiffness. So I wasn't expecting too much from last night's tempo run.
The Tuesday night clinic started out with a chat about heart rate monitors by yours truly and then, courtesy of Polar, we outfitted everybody in the clinic who didn't already have one, with a heart rate monitor. I went out pretty fast from the get go with Hugh right beside me and Tim was not far behind us. I have to say that both Hugh and Tim are usually a bit too fast for me to hang on to, usually by a minute or two over an 8-10K distance.
But not last night. Last night I had my heart rate up to 170 within a klik or two and I held it steady for the rest of the way, reaching a maximum heart rate of 175. At four kilometres I began to pull away from Hugh and Tim and slowly and gradually I increased my lead. I was surprised, astonished even, at how easy it was for me to cruise at 170. Normally at 170 I am on the ragged edge, 84-85% of my maximum heart rate and conscious for every second of my effort. I also felt strong and could feel in my bones that I had a little in reserve.
I don't know if it is the speed work for the past month, the loss of ten pounds in the past six weeks, or what, but I had new found levels of both speed and fitness. I finished the 8K in 30:39, at least two minutes ahead of Hugh and Tim. My LAST fast 8K was three weeks ago and I ran it in a hair over 34 minutes. Hugh also ran the 8K in a best time for him this clinic. Afterwards, Hugh asked me, "Where did that speed come from Vince? We haven't seen THAT speed before!" Truthfully, I had no idea, but there is no getting around the fact that I feel much, much better running at 192 pounds than I did hovering around 200 pounds. Three or four percent less body fat has really made me three or four percent faster. I can hardly wait to see what it is like to run at 180 pounds and 10% body fat! The diet now seems like a bargain in terms of the returns I am getting in performance improvement.
The Tuesday night clinic started out with a chat about heart rate monitors by yours truly and then, courtesy of Polar, we outfitted everybody in the clinic who didn't already have one, with a heart rate monitor. I went out pretty fast from the get go with Hugh right beside me and Tim was not far behind us. I have to say that both Hugh and Tim are usually a bit too fast for me to hang on to, usually by a minute or two over an 8-10K distance.
But not last night. Last night I had my heart rate up to 170 within a klik or two and I held it steady for the rest of the way, reaching a maximum heart rate of 175. At four kilometres I began to pull away from Hugh and Tim and slowly and gradually I increased my lead. I was surprised, astonished even, at how easy it was for me to cruise at 170. Normally at 170 I am on the ragged edge, 84-85% of my maximum heart rate and conscious for every second of my effort. I also felt strong and could feel in my bones that I had a little in reserve.
I don't know if it is the speed work for the past month, the loss of ten pounds in the past six weeks, or what, but I had new found levels of both speed and fitness. I finished the 8K in 30:39, at least two minutes ahead of Hugh and Tim. My LAST fast 8K was three weeks ago and I ran it in a hair over 34 minutes. Hugh also ran the 8K in a best time for him this clinic. Afterwards, Hugh asked me, "Where did that speed come from Vince? We haven't seen THAT speed before!" Truthfully, I had no idea, but there is no getting around the fact that I feel much, much better running at 192 pounds than I did hovering around 200 pounds. Three or four percent less body fat has really made me three or four percent faster. I can hardly wait to see what it is like to run at 180 pounds and 10% body fat! The diet now seems like a bargain in terms of the returns I am getting in performance improvement.
posted by Vince Hemingson at 10:22 AM
6 Comments:
Vince,
Good to hear that the diet seems to be paying dividends! I was thinking to myself...170, that would be pretty hard, and while that should be true, with less Vince to oxygenate, the lungs and heart can put more into the muscles, thus you are faster. Congrats on the improvement.
Yeah Scooter,
I don't think 170 is within the realm of the possible, but I do think I can flirt with 180.
And there is no denying that it is easier to recover from my speed workouts.
Cheers, Vince
Vince,
The 170 was a heart rate, not a weight! I find 160ish to be about my max for long stuff (10K+), so spending time at 170 is getting into a distinctly unpleasant realm for me.
Scooter,
What is your maximum heart rate?
Vince, think about it this way:
Your pace equates to 3:04 (minutes,seconds) per 800 m. The Yasso 800 covers the same distance that you covered (8km), but gives you breaks in between. You had no breaks. Plus, the Yasso 800 is done on a track, which is likely faster than your route. Even with that, it would predict a sub 3:10 marathon (3 hours 4 minutes). How do you like them apples?
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-51-0-0-624,00.html
Justin
Vince,
I usually get into the low 180's at the end of a 5K, so expect it's a bit higher than that. For me, the "basic athletic" predition formula of [205 - 1/2 age] seems to predict pretty well.
Low 160's seems to be my "level of acceptable discomfort."
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