The highs and lows of running: 7/4 – 10 WRD

~ Chocolaterunsjudy

Highs and lows is a bit of a wordplay on my runs this week, playing with heart rate — which has been high and low on the run, indeed. Four runs baby! I finally made it to the elusive 15 miles per week, too, LOL! Next week will be a cut back week, I think, since it looks to be hot & humid. Although experimenting with easier running so we shall see.

bwrd

I’m joining Kim @ Kimrunsonthefly and Deborah @ Confessionsofamotherrunner, and taking it slow and easy but getting it done.

Workouts update

  • Monday: Yoga (20 min), Barre (15 min), Dogwalk @ Ashokan rail trail & at moms, Yoga PM (20 min)
  • Tuesday: Dogwalk, Yoga AM (20 min), 3 miles easy, Dogwalk, Yoga PM (20 min)
  • Wednesday: Yoga AM (30 min), PB Toning Cardio, Yoga PM (20 min)
  • Thursday: Yoga AM (20 minutes), Dogwalk, 7 mile LSD, Yoga PM (20 min)
  • Friday: Yoga (20 min), 2 recovery miles, Dogwalk, Taught Yoga (60 min), Yoga PM (20 min)
  • Saturday: Dogwalk, Yoga (30 min), Walking with friends, Peloton Barre x 3 (30 min)
  • Sunday: Yoga (20 min), 3 miles easy, Dogwalk, Yoga PM (20 min)

Running Mileage: 15  (NC) 


PB = Killer B
TM = Treadmill
WU = warmup
CD = cooldown
SB = Stationary Bike

Running Update

I’m coming, Bandit!

Tuesday Intention: watch the HR
I debated whether or not this should be my long run day, but going to my moms is always tiring, even with only having to do half the driving. I still got out early to run and could quickly tell keeping it shorter was the right decision this day. Cool-ish (mid 60s) and cloudy with a touch of humidity.

I did decide to keep an eye on my HR and it served me well. Much like driving to my mom with its many hills, I slowed down a bit when I needed to and picked up the pace when the HR lowered, trying to keep it between 145-155. I was totally successful with that — of course, it was a slow run. That’s ok!

It’s been a pretty dry summer so far

Thursday Intention: keep HR around 145 – 155, slowly allowing it to climb higher the longer I ran
I kept my intention in mind, but unfortunately no one told my heart that. The first 3 miles were great, and then it would suddenly shoot up, I’d walk a bit, and it would calm down. It made for some very slow running. I finished feeling like I could have run longer, for sure, even though the temps and humidity are slowly rising — and that’s a good thing.

Have a great run!

Friday Intention: recover & keep HR low
Today was a recovery run, only two miles, and a bit cooler. No problems keeping my HR where it should be for 2 miles, LOL! There is something called cardio creep, where your HR increases the longer you run. I’m really working on keeping things easy, and while keeping an eye on my HR I think that in the past I probably ran too fast, too often on easy runs. Run easy and you’ll run longer — in more ways than one!

A hat in a car as seen on the run

Sunday Intention: rolling hills + HR no higher than 155
Rolling hills, check. HR around 155 — nope. I want to do a little more investigating here. My resting heart rate is good, so that’s good, but part of the reason to pay attention to HR is to make sure you’re either running easy enough on easy runs or recovered properly for a hard effort.

This may just be some Garmin weirdness — today the first mile was fine. The second mile had high heart rates. Every time I looked at my Garmin during the third mile, where I decided to just run, so the pace was a full 2 minutes faster than the second mile, Garmin showed my HR to be very low. Reviewing it post run and there was still some higher than normal for me readings there.

Don’t feel like you have to comment, although of course you’re welcome to if you want to, I just like to try to figure things out. Oh, and did I mention it was a lovely cool morning, too?

Bandit enjoying my “new meditation chair”

Favorites of the week
As I mentioned last week, the 3rd was the 6th anniversary of Bandit’s adoption. Just yesterday on FB my memories gave me the post I wrote trying to rehome him. Yup, in just one week. Eventually (months later) a rescue did find someone that wanted him and was willing to work with his problems (or just accept them) but by that point we had already begun to actually integrate him with Lola and Gizmo and so we really became his forever home.

I’m enjoying a lot of time outdoors since it’s been lovely and dry (next week that will change), and I also enjoy meditating outside. Except I didn’t have anywhere comfortable to sit, which is super important when meditating. I also was no longer using the lounge chair above since I prefer the free chairs we got last Summer (the lounge chair was free, too).

The problem? Bandit doesn’t like the chairs I like, but he loves to snuggle on the lounge chair. So I tied on a couple of outdoor cushions and voila! Outdoor meditation seat, Bandit approved. Oddly enough he jumped up to lay with me on the chair he doesn’t like yesterday!

Loving the cool mornings the last couple of days. Wished I’d chosen to do my long run today, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Met up with the running group to walk (yes, not run, LOL) and chat for a bit yesterday.

ICYMI: This is the practice I do most nights before going to bed, although there are variations; practice with me here, It is also a great practice whenever you’re struggling with sleep. After I’m sharing one of my very favorite Yoga poses, and its many variations here.

Coming up on Tuesday & Friday: Tuesday I’m think I’m going to dive into the whole Summer running & heart rate problem and Friday I’m sharing 5 things I didn’t know before I started to run.

25 thoughts on “The highs and lows of running: 7/4 – 10 WRD”

  1. Happy 6th anniversary with Bandit! I’m so glad everything worked out and he found his forever home. I too am very much appreciating the cool mornings when we get them. Today was great! I’ve noticed some very premature color changes in the trees no thanks to the dry conditions. Sigh.

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  2. Rescue dogs are the best! I’m glad you figured things out and were able to keep him in the early days! It’s been so rainy here, which can be a good thing if it cools things off, if only for a brief respite.

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  3. Ha, funny how our blog post titles are so similar this week! Sounds like things are going well- I’m very envious of those cool mornings! I don’t know… I don’t check my heart rate unless i feel like something is off- like several months ago all my runs felt weirdly hard, so I checked and sure enough my heart rate was way high. But normally I don’t check it- I’m not sure how much I trust Garmin on that. Anyway I’m looking forward to your post about it!

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  4. I have no idea what my hr is or should be. Obviously I don’t care since I just run for fun.

    I wish I could look at the weather to pick my long run days. They have to be Saturday. And it works for me since I can find a friend or three to keep me sane.

    Yes we’ve had a dry summer. It only rained this week on the most important day. The hike a thon. Boo.

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    1. You have to endure the long winter for those cooler mornings. And then so et you don’t get them — or you don’t get nice summer days! But yes heat & humidity is not at all fun for most.

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  6. Happy gotcha anniversary for Bandit! He sure got lucky with you and Mr Judy! I swear dogs are the quirkiest! Cocoa is obsessed with her ball. Today we went on the boat and she forgot it, so she pouted underneath the steering console, lol

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  7. I notice my hr is high my first mile on the tread, and then it settles lower — I guess the first mile really is the hardest! I don’t watch my hr on my runs, but do have an alert if it gets high. I haven’t set that off in ages!

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  8. Awesome job getting in 4 runs this week! I find that so many things can factor into my heart rate – caffeine, lack of sleep, etc. That makes it hard to zone in on a specific heart rate number but I’m trying to be more conscious of it.

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  10. Six years! What a lucky dog Bandit is to have you 😉 I remember all the tough times you had in the beginning; I’m so glad you kept your patience and persevered. I’m working on figuring out the bells and whistles on my new Garmin, and the heart rate info is at my fingertips…but I have not even began to explore it (yet).

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  11. Happy Banditversary! I keep an eye on my HR after runs on my stats and also when I’m in recovery after a run, and I also have a look if things seem particularly hard or I think I’m coming down with something. I know running to heart rate is a “thing” but I worry if I do that it won’t let me run at all!

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    1. Banditversary! LOL! I like it. There were many posts about not paying attention to HR, too! I know it comes across as if I’m obsessing, but I just like to understand things (although I may never understand it, LOL!).

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    1. I’m good with either 3 or 4 but then I’m not training for anything. I’ve trained for a half only running 3 x week in the past, though. I might get in 4 this week. We’ll see how it goes!

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