Report: Wed 10th Dec 2003

Easy run this time, I ran for 25 miutes which is around 2.5 miles at my pace. It was bloody freezing so I'll be investing in a beanie for next time.

• Exe.Time = 25:00.0
• HRmax = 164
• HRavg = 146
• KCal = 130

Report: Mon 8th Dec 2003

Did another Steady run last night - I think most of my weekday runs will be until I get to the stage were I can run a few miles without feeling like I'm going to collapse!

• Exe.Time = 21:07.45
• HRmax = 166
• HRavg = 152
• KCal = 114

Report: Thurs 4th Dec 2003

My run last night was supposed to be a Tempo run but it ended up as more of a Slow Easy run! I tried to pick-up the pace a few times but I'm clearly a long way from Marathon fitness ... Still, I'm in 'Week 18' which is a bit under 4 and a half months before the Marathon so I'm hoping to improve a great deal more over the weeks leading up tp Xmas.

I can't remember my fitness level at this stage prior to the 2001 NYC Marathon but I'm pretty sure I was fitter than this, I've given up smoking since so I should make a more rapid improvement this time (if not I might just start smoking again!)

Anyway, here's the stats: -

• Exe.Time = 20:00.0
• HRmax = 167
• HRavg = 151
• Limits1 (Warm-up) = 80, 160
• Limits2 (Interval) = 150, 160
• InZone1 = 00:18.11
• Above1 = 00:02.04
• Below1 = 00:00.00
• InZone2 = 00:10.29
• Above2 = 00:02.04
• Below2 = 00:07.42
• InZone3 = 00:18.11
• Above3 = 00:02.04
• Below3 = 00:00.00
• KCal = 110
• Warm Up HREnd = 146
• Warm Up HRMax = 146
• Warm Up HRAvg = 127
• Interval1 time = 00:18.00
• Interval1 HREnd = 153
• Interval1 HRMax = 167
• Interval1 HRAvg = 153

I think these stats are fairly unreadable posted in this format so I'll work on getting a graph version for the future.

Report: Weds 3rd Dec 2003

I tried my first 'Interval' run last night. The HRM is perfect for this- you can set four phases of the workout at follows:-

1. Warm-up
2. Interval
3. Recovery
4. Cool-down

I set the Warm-up and Cool-down period to 2 mins. The Interval I set to 1m20s with a MRmax of 175 and a HRmin of 120 (c. 90% and 65% of my maximum heart rate). The Recovery phase was set to 1 min and I set the repeat of the Interval/Recovery phases to 8 times. The point is to run each Interval phase at around 90% of HRmax then let your heart rate drop to at least 70% during the recovery phase.

So, the Interval workout is structured like this: -

	HR min	HR max
Warm-up	80	145
Interval 1	120	175
Recovery 1	120	120
Interval 2	120	175
Recovery 2	120	120
Interval N	120	175
Recovery N	120	120
Cool-down	80	160

I got some useful stats from my HRM which shows that I probably need to tweak the high/low values above for my next Interval session next week (I seemed to be too comfortably 'in the zone', or should I tweak them so that I am 'above the zone'? .... hmm ...).

• Exe.Time = 24:45.8


• HRmax = 172


• HRavg = 145


• Limits1 (Warm-up) = 70, 145


• Limits2 (Interval) = 120, 175


• Limits3 (Cool-down) = 80, 160


• InZone1 = 00:11.09


• Above1 = 00:13.36


• Below1 = 00:00.00


• InZone2 = 00:23.29


• Above2 = 00:00.00


• Below2 = 00:01.16


• InZone3 = 00:18.11


• Above3 = 00:06.03


• Below3 = 00:00.31


• KCal = 127

Route was Brentford to north end of Kew Bridge then east along the river for 1 mile, then return. I'll hopefulle be posting route maps later once I get regular routes sorted out. As it was an Interval run the route wasn't so important though ..

Report: Tues 2nd Dec 2003

And so it begins ...

First run last night - what a bloody nightmare! I was intending to do around miles (or try for 30 mins steady pace) but ended up having to walk after 12 minutes. I ran/walked the rest so I probably managed 2 miles of running. I'm not discouraged though as I just need to stick at it to build the mileage up- after all, I've been a lazy fat bastard for nearly two years now (since the 2001 NYC Marathon I've barely even run for a bus).

I also trialled my flash new HRM - I am a sucker for 'kit' - though I didn't have a great deal of success. I switched on the heart monitor function but then forgot to then start the stopwatch (muppet) which meant I didn't really get much in the way of stats (I didn't start the stopwatch until the 2nd half of the run). Even so, my average heart rate (HRavg) was 139 and my max (HRmax) was 167.