My One Month Running Improvement
As you can tell I have been extremely meticulous and detail oriented with my fat loss progress so far. I keep track of calories in vs. calories out, weight, waist, body fat % and several other variables. If you thought I’d be doing anything different with my running training you’d be mistaken.
I keep a detailed record of all my runs with distance, time, speed, heart rate, calories burned and whatever other information I can get my hands on. The only way to improve is via a feedback loop. I do something and I have to see what the result is. Did it make me improve? Am I getting better? If not, why not? If not, how can I change my training to get better? So I do a lot of post run data logging and analysis to see where I stand.
I have been running for over a month now, but if you take my one week of non-running due to injury out of the equation it’s only been four weeks of active running that I have done. I have logged a bit over 100 miles so far which is not a whole lot. It certainly does not make me a champion or an elite racer. But it is enough for me to be able to gauge improvement.
Today I ran a 6 mile run. I didn’t run it fast, the goal of the run was to stay well within my aerobic zone and exercise my cardiovascular system. This meant a run where my heart rate would not go above 155 bmp but it should not drop below 140 bpm either. Interestingly my problem never seems to be the lower limit it’s always the upper limit that I have a tough time with. I constantly have to watch myself not to run faster than planned. I have averaged 153 bpm for my heart rate for the run and only spent 4 minutes above my target and 1 minute below it so over 90% of my run was within my target zone. The run took me 57:10 which means my pace average was 9:22 minutes/mile. It is nothing stellar and it is certainly not an amazing feat in itself. But when you put it in perspective by comparing it to a run from a month ago the difference is quite amazing.
On 1/23/10 I ran a 6.3 mile long run. The distance was very similar to today’s run and my average heart rate for that run was 152 bpm, essentially identical to the run I did today. This means I have performed both runs with the same effort. But my average pace was nowhere near 9:22 min/mile. It was 10:01! I have shaved off close to 40 seconds from my mile pace in one month! So how hard was it for me to run a 9:22 pace a month ago? Funny you should ask. I actually ran a 5.1 mile run on 1/16/10 that just happened to average 9:22 minutes/mile pace. But my heart rate average was a whopping 164 bpm for that run! So I have shaved off over 10 bmp from my heart rate to run the same pace. That is a huge improvement!
I’m sure this pace of improvement will not sustain in the long run but seeing such a drastic improvement in my running definitely surprises me. When I ran my first 5K race three weeks ago and managed to finish it in 24:04 I wasn’t sure what I should be able to run at my 10K race next weekend. But in light of what I know now I’m pretty confident that I will be able to run a solid race and my target is to get under 50 minutes. I’m secretly hoping for 48:00 or under but I’ll stick to 50 minutes as my goal for now. That is unless I manage to collect another injury between now and then. I did get a small blister on my left foot today but I think it will heal up in no time, it’s a deep one and very tiny so it should not affect me within a day or two.
That’s great progress, Greg! Congratulations!
Chad´s last blog ..Saturday – Day of Reckoning
Thanks Chad! I’m keeping an eye on your progress too!
Greg,
Anyway, keep up the good work.
first of all let me say that I discovered your blog while reading your posts on the Polar Forum.
Your posts striked me for how they analyze very deeply, and point out very clearly, what the bugs with PPT5 are.
Unfortunately Polar Staff isn’t very quick in fixing them
Now back to your blog. It couldn’t have been any different. I love how you track your valuable data, put them together, analyze and chart them. Great job, my hat off to you!
I’ve been reading the whole blog (even though being an Italian myself, it took me several days as my English speed reading isn’t very fast) and I enjoyed the whole of it.
Believe me, you’re on the right track for an outstanding success at your transformation.
I went the very same way as you. Starting April 17, 2005, I began changing my lifestyle.
My weight dropped from 92 Kg (abt. 203 lbs) to 72.4 Kg (abt. 160 lbs) by the end of September 2005, to 61.7Kg (abt. 136 lbs) by the end of March 2006.
Since then, after a little of deliberate yo-yoing between July 2006 and July 2007 (63-68 Kg, abt.139-150 lbs) I’ve been happily floating around 62-63 Kg (136.7-139.0 lbs).
BTW I’m 1.80 m (abt. 5 ft 11 in) and 50 y.o.
Sure, a reduced calories intake was important, but IMHO the key success was, and still is, physical activity. My favourite is cycling, but I also run from time to time.
I know you don’t need my advice because you’re already doing well, however let me give it anyway. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER quit physical activity.
Do you love run? Well, stick with it.
Should you ever want a change, remember to choose from aerobic activity, be it cross-country skiing (maybe the best of all), rowing, cycling (both road and mountain-biking), swimming, speed-walking, whatever you like/can think of.
Bye for now, Lorenzo.
Thank you for your kind words. You are right, I think I know what I am doing but a bit of advice from another perspective is always welcome.
The last time I quit running was 18 years ago and look where it got me. I don’t think I will quit this time. Not ever. And while cross country skiing sounds like fun, it’d be kind of hard here in Texas. I do visit the Alps , mostly Austria, from time to time and I love downhill skiing in Whistler Canada but for the most part I think I’ll stick with the running
.
Oops! I’ve just noticed this little thing.
[Quote]
The run took me 57:10 which means my pace average was 9:22 minutes/mile.
[Unquote]
Either the time or the pace are wrong. 6 miles, 57:10 -> 9:32 min/mile.
Am I missing something here or is this a new RS800/PPT5 bug?
Bye, Lorenzo.
The run was 6.1 miles not 6.0 miles. at 6.1 miles the average comes out to 9:22 which is correct. But this just shows how important it is to get a proper distance calibration. A 1.5% difference on distance (6 vs. 6.1 miles) can mean 10 seconds on your pace.
Hi Greg! I think your progress is amazing. I like how you keep such detailed info on your workouts and physical changes, it makes it so interesting!
Btw, I might be a total ditz, but I can’t seem to find out how to subscribe to your blog???
Thanks for your comment! You’re not a ditz just not tech savvy
. I do have RSS feeds for my posts and comments but I only had e-mail subscription for my comments. But since you asked now I have e-mail subscription available for my posts as well. Just visit my Subscription Page and put in your e-mail address.
My Garmin gives me way more data than I use. I tend to enter my runs into running ahead. You can have a look if you like:
http://www.runningahead.com/logs/c6cf38a502e34f9eb395adfc653cb2ed
AndrewENZ´s last blog ..Weigh-in post #8 2010: Onderland!
As much as I complain about Polar Personal Trainer 5 on the Polar Forum it actually does a half decent job at keeping track of my training data.
Persistence and patience has its reward. Remember, never give up with your goals.
[...] looking at a huge blood blister the size of Texas. It was right next to the other blister that I got a month ago on a 6 mile long run which was actually a lot bigger than originally anticipated. I went on with my [...]