It dropped below freezing last night and while it was rain hitting the streets in front on my house, it was snow up in the hills. I got out just around 8 AM after drinking a gallon of hot coffee. I was dressed to the 9's and 10's wearing my new compression tights, my old high tech Gortex rain jacket, hat and gloves. I slogged an easy paced 60 minutes over to the college and back and called it a day.
Wednesday
I ran early so I could get to work for a meeting that ended up being postponed. GRRRRRRRR!
I felt like I was running in soft concrete. It was about 30 degrees out so I lumbered along for 62 minutes of very slow stuff. The good news was that it was clear and there was no real wind. The correct definition was that it was "crisp" outside.
Friday
I took the last two days off. I will run again on Saturday and again on Sunday. The plan for Saturday is a 45 minute easy slow run and Sunday will be a 5K AT run up in Golden Gate Park. The course is far from perfect. Slightly uphill and rolling going out and the reverse coming back. This will be a "truth" run. It will tell me more about myself and my present conditioning than anything else I am presently doing.
So what does AT mean? It means that I will run the 5K with my heart rate in the 88-92% range with an emphasis on 90%. This is far from an all out effort. In fact it gets easier as it goes along because if done right, the runner (in this case moi) will have to slow down to stay at or under 90%.
Saturday
Wet and windy this morning. I went out for a light breakfast with the club and then ran too soon afterward. I had to stop several times early on to digest the toast I had eaten an hour before and finally settled down for a 50 minute very easy run.
Sunday
I drove up to Golden Gate Park with Shel to run a 5K (Dolphin Club). Conditions were Dwight-like. Wet and cool. The course was not an easy one with gradual up hill and rolling going out, a nice surprise hill about half way and then a gradual coming back down to the finish highlighted by a nice "quartering" head wind coming in from the ocean.
I have run most of the Dolphin course but I have never run this one (at least so I remember). Frankly, not a good course for an AT run. It started on JFK drive and climbs up to the top of the park and then swings up a side street (uphill) and then swings back onto JFK & back to the finish.
I warmed up for 21 minutes. My legs felt fine.
I got off to a good enough start but it took about a mile for my HRM to read accurately. It could be a weak battery. Going out it was stuck on 95 for a long time so I was guessing whether I was running at AT or not. After about 7 minutes it suddenly kicked in gear and read 173 which was about right. Then coming back we had that surprise hill and my HR edged up to 179-180 but I was actually running without any undue duress. As we came back on the main drive back to the finish the wind slowed me down and I basically fought to stay at or under 180 all the way in.
When I saw the clock at the finish line I was not not too shocked to see 24:02. Pretty pathetic but given the wind and the hills I really didn't beat myself up too much. The plain fact is that I am a heck of lot slower than I was 2-3 years ago when I could still run an AT 5K around 21 minutes give or take (on a flat course).
The good news is that running in the high 170's felt very much like an AT effort has always felt so my best guess is that my max HR is still well over 190.
The less than good news is that either the course and conditions were tough but also that my body is having its usual singularly "Rich Stiller" reaction to any sort of continual speed work. It slows down. I think it is a combo of all of the above.
I am nursing a slightly sore right achilles tendon but that was not a slowing factor today.
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