Twilight run

It was a rough night with Eli last night. He was in a lot of pain, and we woke him up every three hours to give him pain meds. I hated to wake him, but it would have been so much worse to have him wake up on his own, miserable with pain. I didn't really sleep at all, because I was worried about Eli. I kept checking to make sure he was breathing (haven't done that since Noah was a newborn!).

He slept in until about 8:30, but he was in so much pain when he woke up. I hated seeing him like that! I felt so guilty and horrible for having gone through with the surgery. He couldn't even talk, and he cried when trying to swallow his meds. I propped him up in my bed to watch a movie, and sometime during the movie, he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a note card and a pencil:

As his mother, I could decipher what he wrote: "Can you get peanut butter M&M's?" Hahaha! Even though I doubted he'd be able to eat them, I told him of course I would. I just went to the corner store and bought some, along with a slushy. He ate an M&M by letting it melt on his tongue, but it was right after that when I noticed he really perked up.

He ate the M&M's, about a cup of ice cream, and half his slushy. Not exactly a nutritious breakfast, but I was happy that he ate something. For lunch, he ate some Ramen noodles, and then about an hour later, he said he felt sick. Sure enough, he threw up everything he'd eaten. After he threw up, he said he wanted shrimp from Red Lobster (so random!).

I told him that we couldn't go to Red Lobster, because he was sick--and he couldn't throw up at the restaurant. He got really mad at me, and basically gave me the silent treatment all afternoon. I actually felt good about that, because he was back to his normal self ;) My mom brought him shrimp scampi and popcorn shrimp from Red Lobster for dinner, and he ate the scampi without problems.

Even though today was supposed to be a relaxing day, I was exhausted by the time Jerry got home. I was waiting on Eli hand and foot, and that was anything-but relaxing. I didn't have a chance to shower, so I felt greasy and I felt lazy for not running. Anyway, at around 7:30, I decided that I wanted to go for an evening run. I never run in the evenings; the last time I did was during Ragnar SoCal, and I can't remember the time before that.

The weather felt really nice outside, and with the sun going down, it just looked like a great time to run. I did an out-and-back route that stays out of the neighborhoods, so I could have some quiet time to myself.

A couple of miles in, I saw a baby bird on the side of the road, and as I passed by, it opened its beak really wide and looked at me. I kept going, but I felt bad for not stopping and shooing it away from the road. I decided to look for it after I turned around.

On the way back, the poor bird was in the very center of the road. Cars drive really fast down that road, so I stopped to move the bird. I tried to nudge him with my toe, but again, he opened his beak wide and looked up at me. I put my hand down next to him, thinking that would probably scare him, but he just jumped right into my hand and sat there. I carried him to someone's yard and set him down in their landscaping, hoping that he'd stay put and not get run over in the street.

Next summer, he'll be all grown up and dive-bomb me as I run by ;)

About a mile from home, there was a guy running with his dog not very far ahead of me. Since I was running slow as molasses, I figured he'd be long gone; but he must have been running the same pace as me, because we stayed the same distance apart for a long time. He turned and saw me a couple of times, but I figured I'd lose him when I turned onto my road.

He ended up turning onto my street, and unless I wanted to run farther than five miles, I had no choice but to follow him. I was only about 300 feet or so behind him, and I was gaining on him a little. He saw that I was still behind him, and started doing some goofy dance moves. I said, "I swear I'm not following you!"

We ran down the rest of my street together, and he said he was doing his long run (9.5 miles). He said I'm the first person he's ever seen out running around here, and I told him that I usually run in the mornings. His dog was all over the place, and nearly clotheslined me a couple of times, which is why my pace got all wacky at the end of my run.

I kept my heart rate in my MAF zone (138-148). My splits were very slow, but not as slow as yesterday, when it was super hot and humid.

Yesterday, I did five miles at 11:27 pace and 145 average heart rate. Today's was five miles at 11:09 pace and 144 average heart rate. It's hard to compare runs when the weather is so different, though. I'm just hoping that the general trend over four weeks is in the right direction. We'll see. Anyway, I loved running just before the sun went down, and I may do that more often. It was nice!

I'm hoping that tomorrow goes a little better for Eli, but so far, I'm glad that he's improving so quickly.

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Eli's surgery

Poor Eli. Today was his surgery, and it was a very long day! Yesterday, we were told to go to children's hospital at 10:45 this morning, which was nice because we didn't have to rush out the door or anything today. I got up and went for a run at 6:30. I ran five miles at my MAF heart rate, and I was so frustrated with how slowly I have to run to keep my heart rate down.

Several times, I felt like if I slowed down at all, I'd be walking. My pace was slower than last week, but it was also nearly 100% humidity and very hot today (unlike last week's cool spell). I was tempted to just say screw it, and pick up the pace, but I really want to give this MAF training a fair shot. Anyway, I ran five miles in 57:27 (an 11:27/mi pace), with an average heart rate of 145.

When I got home, I put together a bag for the hospital, and we got ready to head out. We took Noah to my parents' house, and then Jerry and I took Eli to the hospital. We went up to the fourth floor, and we had to wait in a waiting room for what seemed like forever. Eli was hungry, and he wasn't allowed to eat anything. There were signs all over the waiting room that said, "I'm fasting. Please enjoy your food and drinks on the second floor" or something like that. The receptionist even told us that they don't allow food or drinks in the waiting area out of respect for the kids who are fasting for surgery.

There were two women who came in and were sitting right next to us, and then they pulled out drinks and chocolate-covered something or other, and were eating it right in front of Eli (and the other kids). I was so irritated that they were so inconsiderate, especially when it was made very clear there was no eating or drinking in there. We had been waiting for what felt like forever--we had arrived at 10:00, and we were finally called to pre-op at 12:00 or so.

My mom had bought him new pajamas for his surgery, so he wore those and brought a little stuffed animal from Noah--an enderman (?) from Minecraft. He wasn't really worried about the surgery at all. His biggest concern was whether they were going to give him a shot to put him to sleep or use a mask to put him to sleep.

The anesthesiologist came in to talk to us, and explained exactly what they were going to do. Eli was relieved that they were going to use a mask to put him to sleep, and then they would do the IV while he was sleeping. She asked if Eli had any loose teeth, and he pointed out several. I told her if they could pull any of them while he was sleeping, that'd be awesome ;)  She said they didn't really feel ready to come out, but sometimes the instrument they use for intubating is really hard on the two front teeth, so if they're loose enough, they may just get pulled.

We got Eli dressed in his gown, and he looked so sweet. The anesthesiologist had given him a mask to play with while we waited.

At around 1:00, they finally came to take him to the OR. Jerry and I walked down the hall with him, and then we had to say goodbye. It was WAY harder for me than it was for Eli, I know, but I managed not to cry or get too emotional when giving him a kiss goodbye.

Jerry and I went downstairs to grab some lunch, and after about 40 minutes, our pager started flashing, meaning the doctor was ready to talk to us. The doctor said everything went really well, and they ended up having to pull his two front teeth--yay! (Those teeth were looking bad--they needed to come out). You can already see his adult teeth there. He told us what to expect during recovery, and said we could go see Eli in about an hour, after he was awake and stable.

It was such a long hour! We waited in the waiting room, and when the pager went off again, we got to go see Eli. Apparently, after they woke him up, he gave them a huge cough and blood just went everywhere. Someone was still cleaning it up off the floor when we got there. Eli looked really spacey, and couldn't really talk. I felt so bad for him! I just wanted to hold him and make the pain go away, but obviously there was nothing I could do.

The nurses said he was in a lot of pain when he first came out, but they gave him pain meds, and by the time we got there, they were starting to kick in.

He was able to eat a slushie, but he was still really drowsy and not very alert. The nurse said he should probably stay until he's a little more awake, so we stayed for about an hour and and a half. He perked up a bit when Jerry let him play a game on his phone. We got him dressed in his pajamas again, and the nurse took out his IV. Finally, at around 4:15, we left the hospital.

He did pretty well during the car ride home, thanks to the pain meds we gave him right before we left, but now that we're home, it's not going so well. He wants to eat really badly, but whenever he tries, he ends up crying because his throat hurts. I've tried broth, ice cream, popsicles, water, and soda, and all of it hurts going down. He even said, "I don't like my life" and when I asked what he meant, he said that he doesn't like his life because he had to have surgery. I just wish I could make him feel better! I've been watching the clock to be able to give him his next dose of pain medicine.

Tomorrow, we're going to have a very low-key day of watching movies. I didn't have surgery, but I am definitely looking forward to a relaxing day with the kids! Hopefully Eli feels better tomorrow.

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Motivational Monday #70

Happy Motivational Monday! Hopefully everyone has had a great week. I am really happy that I got back to tracking my food, and I ate really well all week long. Last week, I said I was going to go back to Weight Watchers this Wednesday, but I forgot about Eli's surgery. The next few days are going to be completely out of routine, because Eli is getting his tonsils and adenoids removed tomorrow.

I have no idea how long it will take him to get back to normal, but I'm hoping he doesn't have a rough time with recovery. He's really excited about the surgery, because the doctor told him he could eat anything he wants to after surgery--ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, if that's what he wants. So I may have a tough time staying on track this week ;)

You may have seen on social media that Runner's World is having a contest to be on the cover of their magazine. I know several people that are asking for votes, so I'm staying completely out of the voting game, but someone sent me a link today to the bio for a boy named Ben, and I thought it was perfect to share for Motivational Monday! What is more inspiring than this photo?!

Source

He lost his leg to cancer when he was just six years old. I would love to see this kid on the cover of my favorite magazine! Unfortunately, the rules say you must be 18 or older (and I'm making a wild guess that he's under 18). Anyway, I just loved that picture--not just that he's a kid, or an amputee, or a cancer survivor... but that he's also out there running in the pouring rain!

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Maegan just celebrated her six-month anniversary since starting Weight Watchers, and she's down 40 pounds! She started at 212 pounds, and is currently at 172, so she's more than halfway to her goal weight of 135. Maegan has even started to run a little--it's a slow-going journey for her, but she's not giving up and is making more and more progress. (Maegan's blog)

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Jessica is proud that she is still going to boot camp 3 times per week at 37 weeks pregnant! She had made it a goal to keep working out, and had to modify some exercises to keep it safe for baby, but she feels great about keeping it going throughout her pregnancy.

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Glory is very proud to announce that she just ran her first 5K! She did the race with her husband, and enjoyed it so much that she's already looking for another.

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Finally, I just have to share my own submission for Motivational Monday. Not me, but my kids and my mom! Noah, Eli, and my mom all completed their first 5K on Saturday--and they did awesome. My mom said the kids motivated her to keep going, and the kids are already excited about doing another race. It was a big success for all three of them!

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Don't forget to check out more stories on the Motivational Monday Facebook post! Also, if you have a photo you'd like to share for Motivational Monday, you can email it to me (along with a brief description) at: Katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com with the subject Motivational Monday, and I may include it on a MM post. Anything that you're proud of is worth celebrating!

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TUTORIAL: How to Add Fabric Lettering to Clothing

A lot of people have been asking me how I make the shirts with lettering, so I thought I'd put together a tutorial. It's really very amateur, and if you have any sewing skills whatsoever, I'm sure you could do a much better job! But to keep things super cheap and simple, this is how I add lettering to a shirt. Here are a couple of examples of shirts I've made this way:

It really doesn't take very long to do, even though it's tedious, and it's a super cheap way to letter a shirt!

Materials:

*A shirt or other article of clothing (that can be ironed... I've used sweatshirts, t-shirts, and tech shirts without problems). For this tutorial, I used a track jacket that I found at a thrift store. It had embroidery on the left chest part, so I ripped out the embroidery and wanted to cover it with my name.

*A contrasting fabric for the lettering (I've used denim on sweatshirts, or just cotton on the other shirts). For this project, I just chose white cotton.

*Letter stencils (whatever size/font you'd like; found with the painting supplies at a craft store, usually):

*Double-stick fusible webbing:

*An iron

*A fabric pencil (or, if you're a simpleton like me, just a ballpoint pen)

*Scissors for fabric

*Sewing machine and thread (optional, to reinforce lettering with top-stitching)

Instructions:

First, iron the fabric that you plan to use for the lettering to make sure it's nice and smooth. Then, you'll use the letter stencil to trace out your letters onto your fabric with the fabric pencil (or pen, in my case). I like to flip the stencil over, and trace onto the WRONG side of the fabric, so that the ink isn't visible once it's done.

Once you have all of the letters traced, you'll use the double-stick webbing. The webbing has three pieces--wax paper, a layer of glue web, and then another piece of wax paper:

Two pieces of wax paper sandwiching a sheet of glue webbing

Peel off ONE of the layers of wax paper and discard it. Then press the glue side of the webbing down onto the letters you've traced onto the fabric.

The glue side goes down on the back of the letters. On the top is the wax paper.

Press down on the wax paper with your hand (not the iron yet) and smooth it out. Then, you'll cut out each letter, making sure to cut through the fabric, glue, and wax paper all at the same time. If you use pen, it's easy to see through the wax paper.

Now, the letters should be a layer of fabric, a layer of the glue web, and a layer of wax paper. Next, you'll peel the wax paper off, and place the letters (sticky glue side down) on your shirt exactly as you'd like them to be permanently. Until you iron them, they are moveable, so you can adjust them. Just make sure the glue stays with the fabric.

After placing the letters where you want them, carefully cover them with a scrap of fabric (or press cloth). You don't want to press the iron directly onto the letters or your shirt, so the fabric is just a thin barrier to protect them. I put the iron on the synthetic setting, but just use your discretion. Iron very well, making sure to press all the edges and corners of each letter.

When you're done ironing, the letters *should* be stuck on there pretty good!

At this point, you could probably just leave it as-is, but I always like to reinforce it by stitching the edges. I'm not sure how the lettering would hold up in the washer if you just rely on the glue. (For Eli's race shirt, I didn't do the top-stitching, but the letters stayed on fine during the race. I'll update after I've washed it). When using denim letters, like I did on the sweatshirt, I especially like to reinforce with stitching, because the letters fray a little on the edges--and I like that look!

For the jacket, I just chose to use a white thread. Use the sewing machine to sew as closely as possible around each letter. (Don't try to sew the letters without doing the webbing part above, though--they will be really difficult to sew.)

Once you sew around the edges of the letters, just trim the thread and viola! It's done.

So this is my simple but effective way to add letters to shirts! Hopefully it's helpful :)

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Escape to Belle Isle 5K race report: The kids' first 5K!

Last night, I told the kids they had to go to bed at 9:15 because we had to get up early for the race this morning. I told them to lay out their running clothes before bed, and as Eli was looking for a shirt, he said the sweetest thing: "I want to make a shirt that says, 'Runs for Cookies is my mom'."

I thought that was so cute! But it was 9:15, and there was no way we had time to make a shirt. So I told him that we'd do it for the next race. I was in bed by 9:30, knowing I was going to get up at 5:30 (and by "in bed", I mean scrolling Twitter on my phone). I started feeling bad about Eli wanting to make the shirt, so I got out of bed, and pulled all my fabric and sewing supplies out of my closet, determined to make Eli a shirt.

I used the shirt that he had laid out for the race, and then decided to cut out the letters and iron them on. It was tedious and I really wanted to go to bed, but an hour later, I had his shirt:

Not too bad for making it on the fly like that! (Several people have asked how I make shirts with lettering, so I'll do a tutorial within the next few days.) I put the shirt back with his shorts, and went to bed.

This morning, when I showed Eli his shirt, he was really surprised and excited--it was totally worth staying up to make it for him! I made the boys each a half of a bagel with peanut butter and chocolate chips for breakfast, to "carb up" ;) Then we went to pick up my mom, and drive to Detroit. I hate driving in Detroit, but somehow, we made it to Belle Isle (an inland State Park on an island in the Detroit River). We parked at the casino, and picked up our packets (shirts and bibs).

Eli wanted to go check out the Detroit River, and we had about an hour until the race started, so we just killed some time. Then we lined up for the start. I was really surprised at what a big race this was--the starting line was really crowded! All of the 5K'ers and 10K'ers lined up together for a common start.

My mom planned to stick with Eli, because he wanted to walk most of it, and I told Noah we could do a run/walk together. I set my Garmin for a one-minute run, one-minute walk repeat. While we were standing at the starting line, the girl in front of me recognized me from my blog! I always love it when a reader says hi--so thank you, Sarah :)

Noah said he was nervous, but I told him there was no reason to be. I was a little nervous that we'd get separated, because the crowd was pretty big. The race started, and there was a bottle neck as we all had to go through the blue starting line balloon. I just focused on Noah, and not losing him. The crowd spread out really quickly, so it wasn't bad once we crossed the starting line.

Eli took off like a bat out of hell (one of Mark's favorite phrases!), and I could see that my mom looked a little overwhelmed. They were ahead of us for couple of minutes, but I kept telling Noah to just run slowly. When the Garmin beeped at one minute, he wanted to run one more (I'm sure because of the excitement of the race), so we kept running at a slow pace. After that, we mostly did 1:1 intervals, and Noah really seemed to be struggling at around mile one. But I just tried to be encouraging any way that I could--including doing a "Jerry face" selfie:

Jerry makes that face in pretty much every photo that is taken of him, which is why we call it a "Jerry face".

The first water station wasn't until mile 1.75 ish, which, for a kid/beginner, seemed kind of far. Noah was really relieved when we got there, and he drank a cup of water. I told him he could dump one on his head, but he said no--so I did what any runner mom would do, and dumped mine on his head. Haha, he said it felt great! My mom and Eli weren't too far behind us, and they caught up to us a couple of times.

I've never done a run/walk method during a race, so I discovered something interesting today--you are always passing the same people, and then they pass you. When we started to run, we'd go past several people, then we'd stop to walk, and they'd run past us, and so on.

There was one more water station, and then we could see the finish line about a half-mile away. I told Noah I bet he could run the rest of the way if we went really slowly. We took a quick 30-second walk break, and then we ran the rest of the way toward the finish line.

When we rounded the last corner, and we could actually see the finish line, I told Noah, "Go Noah! Run hard!" because he loves to sprint short distances and leave me in the dust. He took off, and I actually got kind of emotional watching him cross the finish line. I was SO proud of him for pushing through and finishing strong. I gave him a big hug, and then we watched the corner for Eli and my mom. About five minutes later, we spotted them. (I love the Detroit skyline in the background)

Eli had a great race as well, and my mom said he did awesome! Noah was excited to have beaten his practice 5K time from a few weeks ago.

Noah's results

Eli's results

Eli was pretty much there for the food, so he naturally wanted to go get some snacks. They had Panera bagels, wafer cookies, potato chips, orange juice, oranges, bananas, McDonald's cookies, and an ice cream truck. The kids took one of everything (except the ice cream--crazy kids), but I just had a couple of oranges. My breakfast (a Banana Cranberry Oat Bar) was waiting for me in the car, so I ate that on the way home. I'm still going strong with no-ice-cream-July!

Overall, the race was really nice. The last time I was on Belle Isle was for the Detroit Marathon, when I was pretty much falling apart after mile 18. I didn't take the time to appreciate the park then, because I was focused on the marathon, but this time I really got to take everything in, and it's a really nice park! It's kind of amazing that there is such a nice park in Detroit. 

The kids had a GREAT first 5K, and for that, I'm relieved. I just wanted them to enjoy it so that they'd want to do more, and now they do :)

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MAF heart rate test #1

As I said yesterday, I decided to do my MAF (maximum aerobic function) heart rate test today at the track. I'm really glad I ended up doing my long run yesterday, because today's weather wasn't quite as perfect as yesterday's to run--but it was still very nice for July!

To do the test, you just run 3-5 miles, preferably on a track, and keep your heart rate in the MAF zone (for me, that's 138-148). You keep track of each mile split, and each mile will most likely be slower than the last. This is pretty much the opposite of what I've always done! I usually try to get faster each mile, even though my heart rate is already up from the length of the run. In about four weeks, you do the test again, and if you train correctly (always in the MAF zone), then your mile splits should improve.

I drove to the high school this morning, and I was disappointed to see a group of people there. I almost left, but I figured I'd ask if I could use the track. It appeared to be a football coach with about 10 high school boys, and they were doing drills on the field. The coach said there was no problem at all if I use the track, so I went ahead.

Like I said yesterday, the hardest part about doing the MAF training is all mental--it's SO hard to run such a slow pace and force yourself not to speed up. When a bunch of high school boys are watching you run around the track, it's twice as hard not to run my fastest ;) But I was determined to stick with the "rules" of the MAF training, because I'm really curious to see if it works. So I shoved my pride aside and ran at a pace that felt painfully slow at times.

After the first half-mile, my heart rate was hovering at 146 for most of the run. Occasionally, I'd hear a beep from my Garmin to slow down a little (usually when I passed by the guys who were training on one end of the field!), but I immediately slowed down and my heart rate decreased.

As if the football guys weren't bad enough, the running gods must have really wanted to test me mentally today. Two miles in, who else should come out to the track but the high school track team? I almost laughed out loud--I couldn't have picked a worse situation for me to do my MAF test ;) I almost called it quits at three miles, but decided to do four after all, which was my original plan.

My splits were pretty much as expected:

Mile 1:  10:10   143 bpm
Mile 2:  10:47   146
Mile 3:  11:14   147
Mile 4:  11:30   146

Despite the mental hurdle of trying not to care that those times are much slower than I'm used to, I actually really enjoy running at this heart rate. I honestly feel like I could keep running forever, and it's nice to not feel out of breath. We'll see how I feel about it after four weeks, though. I may get bored with the redundancy.

I found it kind of interesting in the Hayden Institute article I posted about yesterday that the MAF test is predictive of race performance. For example, if your MAF mile is 10:00 (using a mile split that is at least a few miles into a run), then your pace for a 5K would be about 7:30 (once you are done with the base building period, it's okay to race hard and get your heart rate high). The slowest pace the chart lists is 10:00/mi, and my fourth mile today at MAF heart rate was 11:30/mi, so I'm not even on the chart yet. Based on last weekend's 5K (a 9:01 pace), I would guess that prediction to be fairly accurate. Anyway, it will be interesting to see what this training does, whether I get faster or slower over time.

Today was day four of being back to counting points. Day four is always the hardest day for me--usually, if I can make it through four days, then I'm good at sticking with it for a while! And sure enough, today was really difficult. There were several times where I wanted to call it quits and just stuff my face, but I kept thinking about how I really didn't want to have to start all over from day one tomorrow, so I managed to get through the day.

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Someone left a comment on yesterday's post asking what my inspiration/motivation resources are. When I was being interviewed for the Half Size Me podcast, Heather asked me that question, and it was hard to come up with them on the fly. I mentioned SparkPeople.com, Runner's World magazine, and Weight Watchers.

Other things that I do to motivate myself when things are tough:

*I look through photos of myself from when I was at my ideal weight (130-135 pounds). That is the biggest motivator of all! I want to get there again. Here are a couple of favorites (I was about 131 in each picture, and I felt better than ever):

 *Books: Here are a couple of books regarding weight loss that I really enjoyed. I prefer memoirs over "how to" books. I read all the "how to" books before I lost the weight, and they obviously didn't help! ;)
-Finally Thin!: How I Lost More Than 200 Pounds and Kept Them Off--and How You Can, Too by Kim Benson.
-Passing for Thin: Losing Half My Weight and Finding My Self by Frances Duffel

*Podcasts: My very favorite is Half Size Me (and not just because I was interviewed on it!). That's really the only one I listen to anymore. I used to listen to a few others, but since I stopped using headphones when I run, I don't really have an opportunity to listen to them.

*I always feel inspired when I watch the show Extreme Weight Loss on NBC.

That's really about all. I've learned that motivation only lasts for a very short time period; it's determination that gets you to your goals. But sometimes, when I'm feeling really on-edge, and thinking about bingeing, the sources I mentioned above are helpful in getting me through the moment.

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Tomorrow is a big day for Noah and Eli--they are going to run/walk their first 5K race! We're doing the Escape to Belle Isle 5K in Detroit. My mom is going also--she plans to stick with Eli and do mostly walking, and I'll do a run/walk method with Noah. I'm really excited for them! I'm sure they'll feel a huge boost of confidence when they finish :)

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MAF heart rate training

I'd heard of MAF (maximum aerobic function) heart rate training a long time ago, and have always been curious, but have never had the patience to give it a try. Basically, the MAF method uses the 180-formula developed by Dr. Phil Maffetone to determine the maximum heart rate that you should be training at. Once you get this number, you do all of your training in this zone--no higher!--and eventually, it will take less effort for the same results (which means you run faster at the same heart rate). Here is the best explanation in a nutshell that I could find.

The MAF heart rate zone is much lower than what most people are used to training in, and it definitely requires patience and dedication--which is why I've never done it ;) At first, to keep your heart rate so low, your pace will likely be much slower than what you're used to running, and that's normal. But you continue to exercise in that zone, and eventually, according to this MAF training method, you will be running faster, but your heart rate will stay in that zone.

Using the 180-formula, you start by subtracting your age from 180. I'm 32, so that would be 148. Then, you look at a list of other options and choose what fits you best to either add or subtract a little from that. It turns out that mine stayed at 148. That is the top of my range. The bottom of the range is 10 beats per minute less than the top, which would make my range 138-148 bpm. According to this method, I should build a strong aerobic base by doing all of my training in that range for a few months.

Source

I've never been patient enough to give it a chance! But now that I don't have any PR goals in sight (at least until sometime next year), I figured now is as good a time as any to give it a try and see what happens. I mostly want to do this out of curiosity to see if it actually works.

You're supposed to start with a MAF test--running 3-5 miles (ideally, on a track) in your MAF heart rate zone, and record the time it takes to complete each mile. Then you repeat this test every four weeks or so, to see if your times improve while staying in that same training zone. The track is ideal for the test because you don't have to deal with hills or traffic lights, etc.

I had planned on doing the test this morning, but when I woke up today, the weather was PERFECT for a long run. For July in humid Michigan, it doesn't get any better than that! So I decided to do my long run today, try out the MAF heart rate zone, and save the "official" test for tomorrow. Jerry wanted to run five miles this morning, so he decided to join me for the first five of my eight, and then I'd just run three more when he was done.

I fully expected my pace to be much slower than I'm used to, and I was okay with that. That's the part that is so hard mentally about this training--seeing that slow pace and not being able to run faster! I set my Garmin to beep if my heart rate went over 148, so I didn't have to look at my watch constantly. I settled into a pace and held that, glancing at my heart rate every once in a while. I had changed the settings on the watch to show JUST heart rate, and not pace or distance or anything else. I didn't want to get discouraged when I saw the pace.

The first mile, my average heart rate was only 137. But after that, it gradually crept up a little each mile. I was trying to keep it as close to 148 as I could without going over (and without constantly looking at my watch). I liked the pace we were running, because Jerry and I were able to easily have a conversation, and I felt like I could go on forever at that pace.

It was kind of interesting, because once I dropped Jerry at mile five, my heart rate instantly went up a little, and it was hard keeping it below 148. I think having Jerry with me helped, because we were chatting, and I could gauge my effort by how easy/hard it was for me to talk. Once I was alone, it was hard to hold my pace back.

My watch beeped a few times over the next three miles to tell me my heart rate was too high. The last mile, especially, was really hard to keep it low. I naturally tend to run faster the closer I get to home, and my watch was beeping at me, so I had to slow it way down to keep my heart rate under 148.

My mile times and average heart rate per mile:
Mile 1:  10:38   137
Mile 2:  10:42   143
Mile 3:  10:52   142
Mile 4:  10:44   145
Mile 5:  10:58   144
Mile 6:  10:51   146
Mile 7:  10:59   146
Mile 8:  11:11   146

I was honestly surprised that my mile times weren't slower. Based on what I've read from other runners, I was fully expecting my mile splits to be in the 12:00's and even 13:00's for a longer run like this. Of course, I had the weather working in my favor this morning! When the temps are back in the 80's by this weekend, I'm sure my pace will be slower to keep my heart rate in that zone.

That's actually one of the reasons I've always liked heart rate training--you base your runs on effort (measured by heart rate) instead of pace, so if it's really hot outside and your pace is slow, you know you're still working just as hard. Anyway, I'm interested to try this for at least four weeks, and then I'll decide if I want to continue doing it. I imagine it will get boring without any hard and fast running, but I'm really curious to see how it goes. And like I said, there really isn't a better time for me to try it out! I'm going to continue with my non-schedule running schedule, because I love it. Even without scheduled runs, I've been getting in 4-6 days of running per week, so I'm staying disciplined. I just don't feel stressed about it, and it's nice!

I had another great day of eats today. Three days of being back to counting points, and thanks to my pre-planning, I don't feel overwhelmed. With the weather we've been having, I've been wanting soup for lunch and dinner each day. I've made Split Pea Soup, Roasted Tomato & Garlic Soup with Barley, Chicken Stew, Spicy Carrot Bisque, and Turkey Chili with Black Beans & Corn... in three days! It just feels so much like fall--I love it!

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