Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Keeping An Eye On The Heart
by Russell Turner - 12:08 on 14 May 2023
Week 13 began on Friday with an easy 5k – so easy that my highest heart rate was 120bpm and the average was 113. Average pace was a leisurely 11:30min/mile, and weather was cool with no wind, but even so, that’s a very low HR. Either the long run hills are boosting my fitness or there was something dodgy going on with the HR monitor.
So for Saturday’s 10k I did the first half at the same easy pace and got the same HR result on a much warmer day. I presume such a languid heartbeat is good healthy news, although Matchgirl looked concerned when I shared the data. Her fears should have been allayed by the second half of the 10k when I picked up the pace and raised my max HR to 141.
Today (the first time for a while I’ve had three runs in a row) it was back to 5k and another change of weather: sultry and breezy. I kept the first 4k easy, during which a badger trundled across the road and up the adjacent field. More Black Isle wildlife. The final 1k was all out, assisted by some downhill, resulting in my first PB in almost two years: 4:27 for the kilometre (and a max HR of 153). If I’d kept going I might have claimed a new mile PB too. Maybe next time.
No running tomorrow – just as well as I’ve not begun June’s Chatterbox yet
Proof that race day isn’t far away came with an email from Race to the Stones HQ asking for confirmation of entry details and telling runners that race packs will arrive 1-2 weeks before the day. And there’s 15% off race photos if pre-ordered. I’ll decide later.
But the big running news is the arrival of my sixth London Marathon medal and shirt. Woo hoo!
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