Warming Up

on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 11:42 PM

Did 12 miles on Sunday at slightly slower than 9min/mile pace. I decided to take a different more hilly route than i would normally do. I managed to do the last .3 miles at about 6:40 pace which got me thinking about warming-up. Being able to crank out an elevated pace (albeit short) at the end of a 12 mile run had me realize that my having had such a touch time right from the start of the race on Saturday may have been a result of not being properly warmed up. Due to the nature of the airport setup, I did the race with zero warm-up.

Today, I did 6 miles with 4 at LT pace. I wanted to try and keep the mileage low this week so I decided on 6 miles top. I did the less than one mile jog to the shopping mall and started into it, but the pace was really feeling tough. I managed the first mile in 7:16 and then did the second in 7:29. My HR was spiking. I decided to take a 2 min rest break which caused the HR to return to normal. Then was able to do 2 more miles in 7:04 and 6:47. It's remarkable the difference in effort between the two 2-mile repeats. I do know now that one mile is not sufficient for me to be warmed-up for LT type pace. In the past, I've usually done at least 2 prior to an LT run.

So, it looks like I'll be trying another 5k race this Saturday. It's by the lake. I've done the 10k there before and will try to get a decent warmup prior to that.

3 comments:

Mel-2nd Chances said...

maybe you're onto something! Good luck this weekend... hope you get that sub-20

Audrey said...

it's so true about that warm-up. i really notice it in swimming-probably b/c that is when i'm timing myself the most. i do my hard intervals much faster later in the workout-even though theoretically i should be tired by then (i'm not purposely leaving gas in the tank). i really should take that lesson to heart and do some of those "strides" people are always talking about before short races.

anyway, best of luck w/ that sub-20!!! it's a great goal for this time of year.

Sonia said...

I hope you get your goal this week-end. Warming makes a huge difference.

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