The LSD Lesson Continues

After my successful long run of last week I ventured out for another long steady aerobic effort this morning with a bit of apprehension. My legs were still a bit stiff, having completed the usual weight training workouts and normal runs, but also having added a Wednesday run with the basketball team I help coach wherein I lead the group in a track session that included some surges. A couple of those were of the short (80-100m) variety at full out effort, which I haven't done in at least two years.

Anyway, my intention was the same as last week: go slow and base the effort on heart rate. I'd figured out that my "bread and butter aerobic" zone was 146 - 152bpm or somewhere in that range, so I set the Garmin to alert me when I went above 152. Not sure that actually helped me as I was keenly aware of my heart rate without the alert, and the wonky metrics that tend to happen early in all of my runs meant that the alert was useless at that point, but it was worth a try. I will not use it again...

In the end I had an interesting result in this 20km run. I started off slower than last week's 18km effort, but ended up running at a faster average pace AND at a lower average heart rate! Either I was too worried about my legs being stiff or I'm already reaping the rewards of a Lydiard approach to training.

Still not very proud of the pace, but I think this is what I have to stick with for the long term. Next week is a short run with a 2km time trial, if the legs allow.

Lastly, March was a successful month for two reasons: I am not injured AND I never missed a workout. On top of that, I managed my highest monthly mileage in almost two years at 122.5km. Nothing to write home about, so I'm posting it here...