They say life is about small victories and I am going to declare one after my easy 8 miler today. You see I have been working on aerobic base over the winter. And any of us from the North country know how hard it is to make gains over the winter months, especially a winter that was as brutal as this past winter. Like I said today I did an 8 mile run and my goal was for it to be a zone 2 run or under 155 bpm at all times. So allow me illustrate why I am declaring victory over the winter.
Here is a snap shot of a 9 something mile run I did on October 13th of 2007 with a similar plan of running in Zone 2. As you can see if you look over the top line of the chart I averaged 9:24 with an Avg HR of 150.
Fast forward to today March 16th 2008 and here is a snapshot of my run this morning. Note that todays average pace was 8:52 with that exact same 150 bpm Avg Hr.
It is also worth noting that todays run was done in cooler temps however it was on the road and over a course that was full of more rolling hills. The first run was done on the trail which is flat as a pancake and well shaded. Now I don't know where this improved aerobic base will take me as I build towards the racing season but it is nice to declare the winter of 07/08 a success. While maybe you dream of gaining more and making bigger strides. Like I said life is full of little battles and we just need to win the ones we can.
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