initial testing and focuses.
Well today is day number four into the training, but monday is always a day off.. so it is only the third day of running.
Tuesday I completed an initial "test of fitness." The testing protocol is not anything that I learned in my exercise physiology or testing courses, but I've found these methods to be more practical from an applied perspective when analyzing changes in my fitness throughout the training period.
The key incredient to testing is that the method is repeatable and the environment is similar time to time. Therefore, I used a treadmill (Cybex Pro+) and a heart rate monitor. (Scientifically there are a lot of issues that could be raised, but I'm just trying to get estimations of improvement... so I'll leave it at that). The following is what I did:
- 5 min warm up @ 6.0mph
- 40 mins with heart rate @ 140 bpm
- cool down
The 140 bpm is a number that I've established in past training periods as my Aerobic Threshold (another very long scientific debate could be had here) so the goal of this test is to see how far I can run in 40min at 140bpm.
I ended up running 4.7 miles or it could be stated, I ran for 40 mins at 8:30pace, maintaining a heart rate of 140. So in the future when I do this test, my hope is to see more distance covered at the same heart rate and time. Considering that I need to run approximately 6:55 miles to meet my marathon goal... I can only hope future tests will be better.
I have scheduled a 10k race on March 25th and a 10 mile race on April 15th. These races will ultimately be the tests I use to determine how realistic a sub 3:00 marathon is, but these "easy to steady" effort tests will be good points to review along the way.
Today, I have 45mins of running at this "steady" pace. I am already excited about adding more speedwork, but that will not be for another few weeks. Right now its all focused on:
1. running frequency (5x to 6x per week)
2. running form and technique (strides, pick-ups, turnover, body position)
3. injury prevention (yoga, stretching, nutrition)
4. run with groups (as many times as I can get up at 4:45am and make it to McGee's!)
Tuesday I completed an initial "test of fitness." The testing protocol is not anything that I learned in my exercise physiology or testing courses, but I've found these methods to be more practical from an applied perspective when analyzing changes in my fitness throughout the training period.
The key incredient to testing is that the method is repeatable and the environment is similar time to time. Therefore, I used a treadmill (Cybex Pro+) and a heart rate monitor. (Scientifically there are a lot of issues that could be raised, but I'm just trying to get estimations of improvement... so I'll leave it at that). The following is what I did:
- 5 min warm up @ 6.0mph
- 40 mins with heart rate @ 140 bpm
- cool down
The 140 bpm is a number that I've established in past training periods as my Aerobic Threshold (another very long scientific debate could be had here) so the goal of this test is to see how far I can run in 40min at 140bpm.
I ended up running 4.7 miles or it could be stated, I ran for 40 mins at 8:30pace, maintaining a heart rate of 140. So in the future when I do this test, my hope is to see more distance covered at the same heart rate and time. Considering that I need to run approximately 6:55 miles to meet my marathon goal... I can only hope future tests will be better.
I have scheduled a 10k race on March 25th and a 10 mile race on April 15th. These races will ultimately be the tests I use to determine how realistic a sub 3:00 marathon is, but these "easy to steady" effort tests will be good points to review along the way.
Today, I have 45mins of running at this "steady" pace. I am already excited about adding more speedwork, but that will not be for another few weeks. Right now its all focused on:
1. running frequency (5x to 6x per week)
2. running form and technique (strides, pick-ups, turnover, body position)
3. injury prevention (yoga, stretching, nutrition)
4. run with groups (as many times as I can get up at 4:45am and make it to McGee's!)
posted by gary at 10:39 AM
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