New Approach

Today Total: 44k (Mtn Bike)

*Long Post Alert*

If you always do what you have always done, then you will always get what you have always got.

Farting around with a HRM recently highlighted a very salient fact - I am running too fast in training (hard to believe at my pace but sadly its true). Being on the wrong side of 90kgs @ a smidge under 178 cm I have to get close to 90% MHR to run @ 5.30 pace - now I can do this and hold it (somehow I managed 5.12 for 21.1k at the CC Half) for quite a period but a) I'm not losing any weight (obviously as not much fat gets burnt at these heartrates) and b) improvement is in teency increments.

Honesty time - I'm a bit fat, not hugely fat but I could stand to lose a few kgs - I'm also a muscly bugger - no chicken legs here and well chesty bond may have had just my build in mind (well maybe a taller version of me)  but I digress - I didn't do anything specific like weights or anything to deserve it - mostly it's attributable to genetics and an attitude that goes at things flat stick till something busts.

What to do? What to do?

Well somethings gotta give because being on the wrong side of 40 I don't want to be carrying this load into my twilight years and also (call it midlife crisis if you like) I'd like to get back somewhere close to the kind of pace I could run as an early tween - this means knocking about 4 mins off my recent 5k PB and 8mins off 10k. I also want to chalk up some more ultras (the two are not mutually exclusive - people like Blue Dog and Spud are good examples).

So enter the bike! Why the bike?

Firstly trouble with the ITB makes running everyday difficult and as most of my running goals involve hills I initially approached this from the perspective that the bike would help with hill running and give the ITB a rest - but I've made a few other observations lately.

Uncle Dave just ran a 2.40 mara, Aunty k a 4.40 (?) 50k, Minersrun is Tri-nut but does bugger-all running (well except for his recent IM campaign) by marathoner standards and he never has problems belting out 4min pace or so on his runs - all of them ride a gazillion miles per week on a bike.

Also an article in R4YL mag recently named the top mountain running gurus and most of them did the majority of their training again on a bike.

Now prima facie I was thinking this was all due to muscle specificity (for the mountain runners) and just increases in total training times (which to a degree it is both of these things) but after reading Hadd, thanks to Steve L *waves* (sorry can't do hyperlink via email blogging) http://www.ffh.us/cn/hadd.htm (which made my brain hurt) I am  starting to think a lot of it may be due to training at the lower heart rate zones that are easier to achieve with the mechanical advantage of the bike and the inherent benefits thereof.

Now I could achieve this running but the rub is I'd have to go so bloody slow it's embarrassing and as anyone who's ever experienced an ITB problem will tell you "slow = pain". Also for some reason my ego goes into cruise control on the bike - which it can NEVER do whilst running.

So the plan from here is to do some rides each week at no harder than MHR minus 50bpm = < 136bpm for me, my long run at 75% MHR no matter how bloody slow this is, one speed session per week and my other runs about 80% to 85% MHR.

And as there is no time like the present to start I went for a 44k ride this morning at average heartrate of 132bpm which is a bit low, but I'm still learning to judge what 136bpm feels like. I rode from my place at Concord to the International Terminal at Mascot Airport via the Cooks River Cycleway and return. A pleasant jaunt for a couple of hours even if it was a bit windy.

I must confess at that heartrate I felt like I was bludging so this is going to take some getting used to - I'll feel better once I've mowed the lawn :-)