On my run today my brain wandered in about 8000 directions, but the intermittent vibration from my heartrate monitor dragged me back to the task at hand, not too fast, not too hard, get your heart ready to race for what may be 17 hours.... It reminded me of my Thanksgiving day run, and how much that it confirmed for me that the heartrate training is 100% the way to go.
Wednesday, full day of work, dinner, then off to a night shift in the ER, home in the morning to change and drink another cup of coffee, off to Madison to freeze my kootukas off and run 5.1 miles. Hubby was good enough to freeze with me as I certainly was in no position to drive at that point. I committed to myself that despite the race atmosphere, I was not going to get caught up with the crazy nuts trying to run 8 min miles (something that seems reasonable to many of you, but to me is nowhere near inside my realm of possibility- especially for five miles.) Instead, I would pay attention to my heartrate and keep it as close to Zone 2 (75-85% of Max HR). I knew that this would mean a slow pace as so many things were impacting even my resting heartrate that morning: cold, fatigue, dehydration and caffeination- it was a miracle my resting heartrate wasn't in Zone 2.
So I popped my earbuds in and went for a jog. Trudging along and letting other people run past me, I just kept moving. My heartrate would drift up, and I would back off. Hubby asked me afterwards where the course went, and honestly I told him- I'm not sure. All I could focus on was one foot in front of the other, and am I going too fast? At 3.5 miles I knew I could pick it up a bit, and I did, a little bit with each half mile, and was actually able to sprint the last little bit. By the time I reached the finish line, I was whooped! But I finished, and I didn't have to walk at all. It had nothing to do with conditioning or race strategy, but instead, to listening to my body and my heart!
This is working, and I am loving every minute! Despite feeling crummy today, I got my run in and am one long run closer to my goal. Its coming together, slowly but surely!
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