Going a Bit Faster

Just a bit...

It was another sunny Tuesday, though not altogether balmy or anything, but a perfect day to forgo the treadmill and head outside for another jaunt by the lake. I intended to run about 8km at an easy pace, but once outside things kind of got out of hand and my plan changed. I decided to just have a good tough, but not too tough, run.

After negotiating the traffic and red lights getting from the gym down to the harbourfront I ran at a controlled pace and effort and was pleased to see that I was going faster than I thought, or what it felt like I was going. My heart rate was definitely not below 140bpm, but I felt controlled and managed to keep it in the mid 150s. I ran 9.5km with the middle 7 kilometres at this faster pace and averaged 4:54/km (7:53/mile) for the entire run. My average heart rate overall was 146bpm, but in those middle seven clicks I'd guess it was around 150-152bpm. The last fast kilometre was the toughest heart rate wise and averaged out at 161bpm. The splits for those "faster" clicks go like this:

1. 4:42 140bpm
2. 4:48 149bpm
3. 4:42 153bpm
4. 4:42 154bpm
5. 4:50 156bpm
6. 4:44 161bpm

It was a good run and I can't wait for my knee to get stronger so that I can do more of these. Ideally I'd like to do one tempo type workout every week, and perhaps sprinkle in a speed workout once every two weeks somewhere down the line. The rest of the week I will try my best to go easy and stay in the 130s bpm.