and-i-ran

[and-i-ran]

Fitness from October to March

Running

Yesterday, I ran a mile to compare with the mile I ran in November. The results were remarkable. My average heart rate was down 10 points. My max heart rate was also down 10 points. I only ran for 25 or 52(can't remember) seconds in zone five. It only took running zone 2 intervals for 5 months.

I started out the intervals at 3 mph walking and 4.5 mph running. Sometime in October or November I added 5 minute running intervals to the end of the workout for a total of 20 minutes with zone 2 intervals, 5 minutes running, and 5 minute cool down. This was to be more in line with the 80/20 method where 20 percent of running will be at higher heart rates and 80 percent will in zone 2. I progressed to incline running for a few minutes in running interval and have also added a few minutes of decline running.

Somewhere between October and December, I saw some gains in the running intervals. They were becoming longer than the walking intervals. That felt pretty amazing and really showed improvement. I would compare my time in zone 2 with earlier runs and it was increasing. However, my running intervals returned to looking "toothy" like far-spaced pumpkin teeth. I reminded myself that progress isn't linear and kept doing what I was doing and tracking my time in zone 2.

I was getting a little unmotivated though. All of my effort and consistency and my results appeared to be back tracking. I wondered if I had a heart condition until I finally started to compare my time in zone 1. My time in zone 2 had increased, but also had my time in zone 1! My theory is my heart rate lowered too quickly during the walking sessions and my watch wasn't checking and reporting heart rate changes fast enough.

My latest running workout is now at a faster walking pace. I think that this is the key to improvement and eventually running an entire mile in zone 2. My hypothesis was that, with walking at 3mph and running at 4.5 mph, I would eventually see a straight line after seeing longer and longer running intervals compared to walking intervals. This was was proven wrong! I need to continually challenge my heart. I needed to increase the minimum speed range and continue to challenge my heart.

The weather should be warm enough to run outside in May. Until then, I will continue to increase my lower range incrementally and continue with 4.5 mph as the running interval rate. I would like to also continue experimenting with inclines and declines.

I recently read an article about a woman runner who does short intervals, long intervals, hill runs, and progressive runs. I would like to incorporate these into my running but continue to do it with zone 2 intervals. She also does this in a 2 week cycle. I will think about how to incorporate these training concepts into my plans.

Yoga/Pilates

I probably repurchased the ashtanga yoga book after my last post. Then sometime in January or maybe even December, I repurchased the pilates book. I have chosen to focus on the asana sequence from the 45 minute sequence at the back of the book. Initially, I focused on ensuring that I wasn't going to overuse my trap to prevent the sneck problems from reoccurring. I have also omitted the up dog(?) and am still working on my chataranga. After building upper body strength to prevent sneck-injury, I have now begun focusing on opening my hips and working on the flexibility of my hamstrings. As for pilates, I have decided to remain with the 9 beginner poses until I feel really solid.

[and-i-ran]

Longer Term Fitness Thoughts

As far as running goes, I plan to stick to the zone 2 80/20 idea until I start running outside again which will probably be in April 2024. So until April I think my plans will include picking up yoga again and running. Yoga Thoughts

I don't see my self spending 2 hours doing the entire primary series. But I can see myself doing and hour of yoga a few times a week. I've been thinking about a MWF run and a TR yoga with maybe some Saturday Sunday run yoga in there. I'll probably start with planking for the Chaturanga Dandasana and then do lowering potential on my knees. I'm thinking 3 of the sun salutations 1 and 2 of the second for the first week at least.

But this is on contingent on when I wake up. I've been checking the time/getting out of bed around 6:50. By the time I have walked the dog, fed her and the cat breakfast, eaten my pre workout banana, done a quick core warm up, I have barely 30 minutes to run If I want to have 10 minutes to mediate before work.

I think I'd like to get out of bed at 6:20. I'll probably have to have my own alarm.

I'll readdress this after this week, when I plan to be at full capacity post jab and 2 weeks of low fodmaps and have had time to go through the yoga book I had to re-buy.

[and-i-ran]

Plan 10/23

Monday, Tuesday: Zone 2

3 minute warmup Zone 2 run: - open goal 30 minutes with heart rate zone 2 alerts - 4.3 mph/ 3 mph ~ 3 minute cool down

Since I'm getting jabbed Tuesday, I'm planning on not feeling like doing anything in the morning for the rest of the week.

[and-i-ran]

Plan 10/9

owing warmup

5 minute rowing warm up (~ 20 strokes with ~10 resistance)

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: Zone 2

53 minute warmup Zone 2 run: - open goal 30 minutes with heart rate zone 2 alerts - 4.3 mph/ 3 mph ~ 3 minute cool down

Wednesday: Recovery

rower warm up recovery walk

Friday: tempo

5 minute rowing warm up 3 minute 4.3 mph 10 minute 5 mph 3 min 4.3 mph 3 minute cool down

[and-i-ran]

Friday Reflection

I didn't sleep well Wednesday night so my last run was Friday. I decided to go with the zone 2 & 3 run instead of the fast intervals.

I went for 30 minutes and my pace was either 4.3 mph or 3 mph. I felt good afterwards. My heart rate spent a little more time in zone 3 than 2. I think that the longer the run session is, the more the session will be in zone 3 which is not really and 80/20 run.

I think that I will try a 30 minute strictly zone 2 workout on Monday. I want to see how much running vs walking I do. I think it will be more walking than running unfortunately.

My running goal is to run for an amount of time every day and not feel like crap afterwards. I think to do this I need to run that amount of time in zones below 4. To do this, I will need to make some short term goals to run or walk in zone 2.

If I can dedicate 3(or 4) days to zone 2 and 1 day free from restriction, I might be satisfied even if I have to walk more than run for a few months.

[and-i-ran]

Tuesday reflection

Zone 2 and 3 with custom heart rate ranges on the watch went well today. The ranges are multiples of 5 and I set it to alert when I was leaving the range 135 - 150. This was enough notification to remain in zone 2 and 3. I ran at 4.3 mph and walked at 3 mph.

I think I might switch to only zone 2 training since I am running on a treadmill for the next several months and the treadmill is the easiest way to control pace(and other factors like incline). I want to finally improve my cardio and be able to run for more than 5 minutes with out going into zone 4.

I've already returned my open run to alert at zone 2 instead of the custom zones. Unfortunately this will require me to watch my watch more which means I'll be more focused on the watch than on the run. For zone 2, I need to stay in 131-142 so the custom range of 135 to 140 would be so narrow that I'd always be out of range. Zone 2 is already such a tiny range.

Why zone 2 and why not zone 2 and 3? I read that zone 2 works on slow twitch fibers. I think the cardio-wise doing both zones could be useful to increase my ability to run at a lower heart rate, but since I'd like to work on endurance I should probably work on improving my slow twitch muscles.

I'm still not sold. Part of the reason today's run was so pleasant was that I could just run and when the alert went off I could just push a button and walk rather than constant monitoring.

I could commit to 1 month of zone 2 and 3 3 - 4 days a week and a fast run on Friday and see if I can run longer than 5 minutes without getting into zone 4. That is very close to 80/20 running.

Returning my watch to the custom range.

Basic 1 month plan (start week 10/2, end week 10/31) :

M, W: rower, 20 min 4.3 or 3 T, R: 30 min 4.3 or 3 F: rower, 15 min > 5 or 3

[and-i-ran]

Monday Reflection

I used the zone 2 alert on an open run goal today.

Since the watch alerts when you are out of the intended range rather than when you are approaching a boundary, I am considering using custom a custom range. This might be more beneficial when I do a zone 2 and 3 run since the range for zone 2 is only 10 and a custom range would be like 5 in order to get timely alerts.

In any case, there is a screen on the watch during the open run that clearly shows the current heart rate zone. I used this to track and determine when I should increase or decrease my speed. I stuck to 4.3 mph for running and 3 mph for walking.

My heart rate graph looked like a consistent interval run. I think I ran for about 30 or 40 seconds and walked for maybe 50 seconds. I walked with speed walking arms. I think that helped to keep my heart rate more consistent. I did not doing this in my previous attempts at using strict intervals for zone 2 training.

I feel good. I think that not eating saltines has helped with the crashes and that they were most likely only saltine and not running related.

I'm looking forward to a longer run tomorrow with less walking.

If I feel good after Tuesday and Thursday, I may throw in a tempo run next week. Probably something like 10 minutes of running at 5 mph sandwiched by 5 minutes of running at 4.3 mph and warmup/cool down walking.

[and-i-ran]

Running plan for 10/2

rowing warmup

5 minute rowing warm up (~ 20 strokes with ~10 resistance)

Monday

5 minute warmup (maybe on rower?) Zone 2 run: - open goal 20 minutes with heart rate zone 2 alerts - 4.5 mph 5 minute cool down

Tuesday

5 minute warmup (maybe on rower?) Zone 2 and 3 run/walk - open goal 30 minutes with heart rate zone 2 and 3 alerts (must update that morning to include 3) - 2.3 - 4.5 mph 5 minute cool down

Wednesday

rower warm up recovery walk

Thursday

5 minute warmup (maybe on rower?) Zone 2 and 3 run/walk - open goal 30 minutes with heart rate zone 2 and 3 alerts - 2.3 - 4.5 mph 5 minute cool down

Friday 

5 minute rowing warm up intervals 5 times - 1 minute fast: ~ 5 - 6 mph - 2 minutes walking: ~2.3 mph 5 minute cool down

ps I just saw that I can have a heart rate alert on an interval! I'll have to remember this for later

[and-i-ran]

Reflection

I did the series on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I enjoyed the interval running and the endurance run and felt good afterwards. Thursday I switched from the hike to the recovery walk because I didn't sleep well. I woke up Friday and the hike didn't sound appealing enough to motivate myself to dress in workout clothes.

I think I'll pause on the series and do more indoor intervals this week. The ifit series imagery and instructors are entertaining and motivating but the actual running could be more challenging which is why I think for this upcoming week I'll do my own thing.

[and-i-ran]

Plan for 9/25

I took last week off.

I think that partially my motivation to run was based on being outside. It didn't start off that way but it feels pretty boring--lame even--to run in the basement. Adding music is a slight motivation but also a complication. Same thing for using the rower for a warm up. This week, I will complete w4 of the ifit series I was doing in march or April. It consists of one day each of running intervals, endurance run, strength/hike, recover walk. I might sprinkle in a rowing warm up in there. I may continue with this series the following week or go back to the other running series I was working on.

[and-i-ran]

Wednesday & Thursday

Yesterday, the lack of motivation won and I didn't walk or run. I just didn't feel like being all sweaty. I woke up sweaty as usual, took the dog for a walk (sweaty as usual), did some mobility work(sweaty as usual), and made coffee and mediated(sweaty as usual).

While I was doing the mobility presses, I noticed I was just sweaty any way and that, now that I was in the basement, it would have felt okay to workout. Halfway through my 25 minute mediation, I finally started feeling cold.

Lesson learned. Not wanting to be sweaty for the first hour of the morning is a fantasy and isn't a great excuse not to work out. Today, motivation was also illusive but I made it to the basement with running kit on. I decided that rowing sounded like fun so I did a 5 minute unplanned rowing warm up.

For the running portion, I wanted to try to stay out of zone 4 for most of the workout. I scrolled to the third screen in my watch to easily see my current zone. I may move the position of this screen for the workout.

The first work session planned was 1 mile. I ran for half a mile at 4.5 and then when I reached zone 4 I walked for a few minutes (~3 mph). I needed another interval of walking a few minutes later when I was again in zone 4. I decided that I wanted to finish out the mile at whatever heart rate and continued running in zone 4. I ran between 4.3 and 4.5 for the remainder of the mile.

The next session was an open recovery, I walked until I was in zone 1 and then completed two 4x1 intervals at 4.5 and 4.4 (ignoring heart rate zones).

I feel good today. I think that staying out of zone 5 is a good idea and that limiting zone 4 will help with my energy levels and mood.

I also think that eating a sleeve of saltines as a snack around 10am has not been helping either and will stop doing that. I guess it's back to rice in geometric forms.

[and-i-ran]

Tuesday

For the last 2 runs, I initially created the workouts without a warm up. I found that I was not prepared to start my run when I started my watch workout though. Even if I do a rower workout, I still spend a few minutes doing a few lower and upper body mobility exercises when I step on the treadmill. So I updated the workouts to have an open warm up. In the UI it isn't really clear how to end an open warm up though. It's a double tap. Today's run went well enough. I'm not sure if it's the monotony of the treadmill or my ability to monitor my heart rate better, but I felt like I was slogging along on the last few intervals. I might have a little anxiety about pushing myself on longer runs because of how I felt like crap last week (even though the week before I felt fine). I'm very aware that it doesn't take too long of a run for my heart rate to shoot up.

I ran most of the time at 4.5 and walked between a 1.5 and 2.

My theory is that if I spend too much time in an upper heart rate zone, it will have lasting negative effects like fatigue and low mood (aka burnout).

Thursday, I will start off at a 4.5 and then drop it to a 4.4 at a half mile in. I updated the workout to have an open recovery after the mile to let my heart rate drop before continuing with intervals. It will probably take 4 minutes to drop low enough to be helpful. I updated the intervals to be only 2 4x1 so that the entire workout time is not increased by much.

[and-i-ran]

Monday

I completed the entire workout as planned. I feel pretty good. This was my first indoor run of the season. I found a nice outdoor walking YouTube video to stare at and had the SAD lamp on.

A manual workout on the rower has a screen that shows laps that fills in as you complete the lap. After about a minute of slow, mindless rowing I noticed that my push off (I forget the actual rowing term)* had a noticeable effect on the blue fill of the lap. This made the remaining minutes of the rowing warm up much more focused as I watched the lap fill with each stroke. I was able to see the effect each part of the stroke had on the fill and how to maximize the amount. I held the strokes per minute between 17 and 20 strokes per minute.

I used an interval watch workout for the running session. I find this cumbersome if I am attempting to stay in zone 2. Each interval is 45 seconds and it takes around 10 seconds for the load screen of each interval. That means I am unaware of my heart rate at that time and don't know if I should be attempting to lower or increase my heart rate with arms swings.

Rather than do an interval run on my watch, I think I will do an open run next Monday and perhaps even set a notification about zone 2 for the indoor run. I can also be more flexible with the interval times to make it easier to stay in zone 2. I ran at 4.5mph and started with the first few walking intervals at 3.4 but decreased that to 3.

I think that for next zone 2, I'll stay around 3 mph for walking depending on my heart rate requirements. *The phases of the rowing stroke are: catch, drive, and finish. The drive is the push off with the legs and the finish is the pull with the arms at the end of the stroke.

[and-i-ran]

Running plan 9/11

Monday

5 minute rowing warm up (~ 20 strokes with ~10 resistance) Zone 2: 16 45 x 45 (4.5 mph x ??) 5 minute cool down

Tuesday

5 minute warm up 1 mile (4.5 mph) 3 3x1 intervals (5 mph x 2.3 mph)

Wednesday

5 minute rowing warm up (~ 20 strokes with ~10 resistance) ~ 35 minute walk (ifit scheduled)

Thursday

5 minute warm up 1 mile (4.5 mph) 3 3x1 intervals (5 mph x 2.3 mph)

Friday 

5 minute rowing warm up (~ 20 strokes with ~10 resistance) Fartlek (4.5 - 6 mph x 2.3 mph)

Why?

I'm moving indoors for the season due to the sunrise. I think that the lack of sunlight in the morning has been affecting my mood so I'll run on the treadmill with the SAD lamp for the foreseeable future.

This week, I'll follow my plans from the out doors and modify next week.

I'll plan for a recovery walk Wednesday and will continue with an ifit series I started in April. I may sprinkle in more ifit running workouts.

For my warm up three days a week, I'll make use of the rower. This week I'll start with a 5 minute session with low resistance and low strokes per minute.

For the zone 2 workout, I'll have to play around to find a suitable walking speed. For the other walking intervals, I'll try 2.3 mph.

Next steps:

find an YouTube video of a 4k outdoor walk to play on the tv

find an acceptable music place list

create workouts for an indoor run on Apple Watch

Set up:

turn on lights

set up treadmill

turn on walking video

pair phone to treadmill speaker

[and-i-ran]

Thursday

Since I like the feeling of not wanting to fall asleep all day, I decided to walk instead of run. I debated whether to go for a easy zone 2 run or any other short interval run, but landed on a 35 minute walk instead.

During the walk, my calves felt tight but, by the end, they felt better.

I'm not sure why this week's 2 miler was such an issue when last week I was able to run in the days the followed.

I think I'll do Friday as planned.

For next week, I think my plan is: zone2, 1 mile with intervals, 35 minute walk, 1 mile with intervals, fartlek. It should also be cooler next week so that might help.

[and-i-ran]

Wednesday

Yesterday's run has really wiped me out. I was tired all day yesterday. I slept pretty good last night, but still felt physically tired when I woke up. I went for a 25 minute walk this morning. It was 70 with 90% humidity. I still feel really tired and my calves are tight.

I'll try for tomorrow's run as planned.

[and-i-ran]

2 mile reflection

Twas a hard run. I haven't slept straight through the night most days for the last week. I think this has a greater effect on my long runs than my interval runs.

I feel pretty tired/cranky after today's run. I was able to keep my pace between 12 and 14 for most of the run, but until my cardio improves, I'll be running that last mile in zone 5.

For now, I think I'll stick with this distance for one day a week. I think that Thursday's 1 mile + intervals will be a better fit cardio-wise. I might look to increase the days I do that kind of run rather than the number of days I run a 2 miler.

I might attempt a tempo run next Tuesday since I haven't done that for 2 weeks.

Since I've reduced my pace, my watch has recorded my Vo2 max as declining. Maybe the tempo run will help. I'd like to also figure out a way to include my speed work.

Perhaps in a few weeks I'll take a look at my training plans or my heart rate to see how close or far I am from a 80/20 plan.