When I lift weights, I feel I really push myself. When I run, I thought I was pushing myself. But, my running coach thinks I'm being too comfortable! And, from today & the past couple of months, I think she's right!
Today was a TREADMILL TEST. Kinda scary. I was a little afraid that I might push myself TOO hard and hurt myself. But, I didn't. In fact, my results showed my maximum HR was 171. My coach says, that with my age my max HR should be 179! And that's for a non-athlete! I think that means I quit too soon. Let me tell you about the test, though...
First, I needed to do a warmup on the treadmill. She wanted to start me at a 5.5. 5.5??? That's an 11:00 pace! That's quicker than my usual run! I settled in at a nice 13:00 pace. Left to my own, I would have done about a 14:00 pace.
I was supposed to warmup for 10 minutes. For the last 2 minutes, she 'pushed' me to go 5.0 or a 12:00 pace. It was actually fine after that original 8 minutes.
After that, I got a 2 minute rest. Then the real test would begin. She would start me at a 5.0 (12:00) pace, then bump me up by .2 every minute. She would record my HR and my RPE (rate of perceived exertion). When I felt I could not go on any longer, I was to hit the stop button - but try to give her a minute warning.
I started running. I totally ignored the numbers. I didn't want to scare myself! We were starting at a 12:00 pace which is about where I usually run. I was scared to see how fast we would get...or how high my HR would get!
Of course it got harder & harder, but not as quickly as I imagined. I started breathing heavier & heavier & she told me to breathe in through my nose & out through my mouth & to imagine all of my cells receiving oxygen. It helped! But, 'eventually' (at about 10 minutes), I told her I was about ready to stop...I would finish up the last minute.
I finished! Whew!!! I had to walk around for 3-4 minutes. Very winded!
She asked if I'd seen the results. No, I hadn't been watching. Well, my fastest minute was 7.0 (8:34)! Pretty good! But, my HR was only 71, and like I mentioned...I probably could have kept going. I was, like I said, a little scared to push myself too hard.
After that we talked quite awhile and went over my running schedule, particularly for this week. She is working with me for 7 weeks leading up to a 5K...the 5K that was my 'first' last year after completeing C25K (couch to 5K). I'm hoping to get a WONDERFUL time for me.
She said we had 3 miles on today's plan, so I could go back and do 1 more mile if I wanted. I wanted.
Since the 5.0 had scared me before, I decided to start there. I think I was supposed to be doing intervals (though now I'm questioning that...better recheck!), so I came up with this plan...run 2 mins at 12:00 (5.0) then 1 min at 11:00 (5.5) and repeat 4 times. That'd be close to a mile. One BIG thing she wants me to start doing is RUN SLOWER when I need a break, not WALK! (This'll be HARD!)
So, I did it. Run slower 2, run faster 1, run 2 slower, run faster 1...HEY!!! The 'run slower' DOES feel like a recovery!!!
And, I'm feeling pretty good! Maybe I can bump up my run to 10:00 (6.0)!
Run slower 2, run faster (10:00) 1, run slower 2, run faster 1...run slower 2 (to cool down). COOL!!! I did it!! And, in my 14 mins, I ran (without walking) 1.22 miles. That's an 11:29 pace. That's pretty good for me! But, I KNOW I can do better. Just wait until NEXT TIME!!!
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