August 09, 2011

My happy pace

So yesterday I tried out the new heart rate zone by the Karvonen formula, and I was MUCH happier with it. I didn't have to struggle to go slower. Running at about a 10:30/mi pace kept my heart rate in the middle of the "easy run" zone (average of 151 bpm). I'm actually kind of excited to try a tempo run or interval run just to see how hard it is to get my heart rate up to par.

By the way, I really hope that I didn't offend anyone by talking about how SLOW my pace was on my last couple of runs. I meant "slow" in comparison to ME. When I wasn't really watching my heart rate, my pace was usually about a 9:00/mi--sometimes faster, sometimes a little slower. So deliberately trying to run a 13:00/mi felt really really slow. But if I compare myself to an elite runner, a 9:00/mi pace is excruciatingly slow. So when I talk about being "fast" or "slow" on my runs, I'm only talking fast or slow in comparison to ME. So please don't be offended if I say that 11:00/mi (or whatever pace) is slow. That might be really fast for someone that is used to running a 13:00/mi pace!

Today starts Week 2 of counting calories again. I made it through the whole week without bingeing or anything. When I REALLY set my mind to something, I just DO IT. I don't make excuses, I don't bargain, I don't justify, I don't let anyone or anything stop me. I focus 100% on my goal and I don't look any direction but forward. (That's what I'm talking about when I say I "put my blinders on").

Food log for yesterday:
Breakfast- cold chocolate peanut butter oats and coffee (271)
Lunch- waffle with Barney Butter + coconut butter and a plum (278)
Dinner- homemade pizza with feta (yum!) (362)
Snacks- carrots with peanut butter, Larabar, fudgesicle (533)
TOTAL CALORIES: 1444

I was hungry all day yesterday. I did a 4-mile run in the morning, then I went to Lowe's to buy some stuff for our yard. When I got home, I worked on the yard and landscaping for a while. Last night, the kids were at Vacation Bible School, and Jerry and I decided to go for a bike ride by ourselves. We just circled the 4 neighborhoods on the peninsula at a leisurely pace, and it was SO nice. I didn't wear my heart rate monitor because I wasn't expecting a "real" workout, but I wore the Garmin just to see how far we'd gone. Lots of exercise :)

Recap of the week:
I've been eating a lot of nut butter lately, and you can certainly tell by the amount of fat I've eaten this week. I never worry about eating too much fat though, because (most of) the fat I eat comes from healthy sources. This week, I've been trying to feed my cravings so that I don't want to binge. I've been wanting peanut butter like crazy, so that's what I've been eating.

Exercise this week:


Today is a rest day, so I'm hoping to get my house cleaned and then catch up on e-mail. Jerry has a softball game tonight that I'm going to go to--without the kids! It's so much easier to go when I don't have them with me. Of course, there is going to be Pizza Hut again--but I won't have any.


What is your favorite leisure activity?  I had so much fun riding bikes with my husband last night, and we both would like to do it more often. It's so much more fun when you do it for fun rather than exercise, and not focus on speed, calories burned, etc. Now if only I could truly enjoy RUNNING like that... ;)


4 comments:

  1. "When I REALLY set my mind to something, I just DO IT. I don't make excuses, I don't bargain, I don't justify, I don't let anyone or anything stop me. I focus 100% on my goal and I don't look any direction but forward. (That's what I'm talking about when I say I "put my blinders on")."
    I need to glue this quote to my forehead.
    Thanks again for the inspiration,
    Taunya

    ReplyDelete
  2. You know, I ran cross country in high school AND college, and we too had to run at a "recovery" pace, but it wasn't based on our heart rate, it was based on our race pace. I can't help but think that funny things happen to your heart rate as you get in shape (like it goes up quicker..) (and maybe I'm wrong...)
    But maybe it would be "easier" for you to pick a pace to run at that instead of going by heart rate?
    Runners World has a pace calculator where you enter your current/goal race time (say, a 27 minute 5k) and then it calculates what your pace should be for various training runs:

    10:54 min/mile Easy run training pace
    9:07 min/mile Tempo run training pace
    8:14 min/mile Maximum oxygen training pace
    7:37 min/mile Speed form training pace
    10:54 - 12:15 min/mile Long run training pace
    4:13 min/800 Yasso 800s training pace

    It's here: http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/trainingcalculator/0,7169,s6-238-277-279-0-0-0-0-0,00.html if you are interested.

    Our long distance/resting pace felt like a snails pace, too, so maybe you're on the right track :)
    I guess I just "learned to run" before the days of heart rate monitors so I don't...trust them yet? How silly.
    OK, now I'm just rambling!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it is intresting that your 2, 4 mile runs at 2 difrent paces,, and 2 diffrent times,, you burned the same amount of calories.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Katie, I love your "just do it" attitude!!! You are an inspiration! Have fun at the game tonight.

    ReplyDelete

I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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