Lifeline of Ohio Race Report (or, my not-personal training plan)

Today Andy, Jen, Meredith, Doug and I decided to run the Lifeline of Ohio Half to get in our miles. I had been planning to run 12-15 anyway, so it seemed a good idea.

Meredith is working with her new coach, so she had already warned me that she would be running slow. Since I consider myself still in recovery mode, I figured this was ok and decided to run with her.

Her plan:
30min @ < 150bpm 45min b/t 150-160bpm 45min b/t 160bpm-170bpm That would bring us in at 2 hrs, but I believe we both knew that that wouldn’t work given the pace we’d have to stay at. Meredith and I both have the same max heart rate, so I figured this was an easy way for me to piggy-back on her coaching 🙂 Doug started out with us but the slow pace drove him off shortly before 3rd mile. For the first three miles, my heart rate was always just a few beats above where it was “supposed” to be. Naturally, we were using Meredith’s HRM as the guide, but we would have been going slower if it were mine! I accidentally hit my lap button part way into mile 2, but our average pace for roughly the first three miles: 10:17 (HR 152) 10:56 (HR 151) 10:44 (HR 152) After a half hour, we were happy to kick it up a notch. I hadn’t realized that we had to keep it between 150-160, which actually meant at one point it started beeping because we were going too slow! This part of the course was a little challenging as it had some little hills, and it was hard to keep our HRs within the appropriate limit. The negative impact was that we ended up being “those people”, the ones who pass and then start walking! 10:05 (HR 156) 10:08 (HR 154) 10:01 (HR 154) 10:02 (HR 156) The course is 2 loops, so shortly before we were able to step up to the next zone, we passed close to the finish, where Meredith’s husband was waiting. He got up and walked with us to chat as we ran by. Yes, he walked as we jogged on by.. Shortly into the second lap we were able to move up. By this time it was getting humid and we both felt a bit hungry. I’d brought a gel, but it was a strawberry clif shot, something I’d never tried before. I took a tiny bit and decided against it. Unlike others on the course that had gone out too quickly, Meredith and I were hardcore into negative split mode. While we were still being held back by her HRM, at least we were finally feeling like we were pushing a bit and passing some folks. 9:23 (HR 161) 9:29 (HR 160) 9:45 (HR 158) 9:45 (HR 158) Finally with maybe a mile and a half to go, we hit 2hrs. While the plan assumed we would be done at this point, we took this as an excuse to be able to finish strong. We both sped up, although after two hours at a slower pace, it was hard to increase our turn-over pace too much. As well, at one point I ran into Meredith and my quick release Garmin, well, released quickly. I stopped to pick it up, and dropped it again. Then I had to re-attach. While it seems none the worse for wear, it did slow us up a bit as well. 7:59 (HR 173) Finally we were rounding the last turn and heading up Nationwide boulevard. I surged forward a bit and Meredith met my pace. Finally we saw the clock ahead, it read 2:09:45. I said to Meredith, “let’s make it in under 2:10” and threw on the jets. I missed my goal: my Garmin reads 2:10:09. Meredith hadn’t agreed to my challenge, and she came cruising in a few seconds later. Both of us hit 190bpm on that last ascent. So I feel pretty good, considering my long race the week before. I was glad that I took this one slow. I won’t call it easy, because I actually find being constrained to a given pace or heart rate a bit challenging. But I certainly wasn’t feeling any pain or soreness. The astute reader will notice something about the heart rates I posted next to each mile. Despite the fact there should have been four distinct zones (if I had been following Meredith’s plan), there really weren’t. Overall HR for the race was 157. First segment: target < 150, I was around 151 Second segment: target 150-160, I was around 155 (perfect!) Third segment: target 160-170, I was around 159.

So although I started out a bit higher than intended, even as our pace increased, my heart rate didn’t. I think this is a GOOD thing, and I’d be tempted to run another race to try the plan myself and see the results. What would it have taken to go a bit slower at the beginning, and then how fast could I have been going at the end?

Ah yes, of course a different way of training is always interesting.. I lent a friend a book on heart rate training just this week, and getting some exposure to a different way of HR training today has me curious about it anew…