Another Step towards full Recovery

Today's run was a regular route for me, three laps of the Auckland Domain.

It's a pretty easy route with just once small hill/incline of about 500 meters. The elevation drops away again before remaining relatively flat for the remainder of the loop. It measures 2.7 km or almost 5.1 miles. Half of each loop takes takes you through the Domain with the other half along busy streets.

The stats;

- Distance - 8.1 km (5 miles)
- Time - 41:40
- Ave pace - 5:06 km (8:12 miles)
- Max HR 168
- Ave Hr 150

Today I kept a split time for each lap and the laps looked like this;

- Lap 1 13:30, pace 4:58/7:58
- Lap 2 13:15, Pace 4:52/7:50
- Lap 3 14:55, pace 5:29/8:49

I found this interesting because I have never kept a close eye on split/lap times before. I only run with basic HR monitor and not a GPS which seems to be popular with most other bloggers. I therefore have to remember these numbers as I go, which was okay.

What the above figures tell me is that I really need to think about starting out slower not only to ensure I get a proper warm up but to also keep from running out of gas too early. I was telling myself tonight to take it slow and easy from the start as my calfs are still not a 100%, but as the above stats show I could really have been about 20-30 seconds slower per k for that first lap.

In the second lap I attempted my version of a mile repeat (well it was more of a one off effort mile). As I've got no GPS I had to do my best to estimate a mile. I figured I could probably run a mile in about seven minutes at a push so I just went hard for seven minutes over the flat section of the loop before easing off when I came to the hill. The calf was starting to tighten as well but this seemed to come and go as I tinkered slightly with my foot position. I was a little surprised that the lap time was only 15 seconds faster than my supposed slow warm up lap. I guess I did ease off a fair bit after the mile.

Over the last lap I didn't want to risk further injury so I just took it real slow, which is shown out in the timings. The calf actually got a bit better over the last lap which was a relief. I am wondering whether it is just a cramp rather than the strain. This is probably related to the Pose Method as if I switch my landing position more toward the heel the cramp is not so noticeable. Maybe I need to find a happy medium between Pose and my own natural style.




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