Day 115: 5mi, 45:12

I felt pretty good this morning after a solid night's sleep. Not a particularly fast five miles, but I was itching to go faster. I think I will try a fast three miles tomorrow and see how that compares to my times from early this year. I'm seeing a physical therapist on Wednesday. Hoping I will not be told to take three months off.
mile 1: 8:42
mile 2: 8:34
mile 3: 8:49
mile 4: 9:21
mile 5: 9:46

Day 113: 5.4mi: 49:18

Beautiful 60 degree and sunny morning here in London. I am battling a chest cold, 12 hours in a plane yesterday, and only 5 miles run so far this week, so I am not surprised it was slow. Would've been even slower but I ran the last 1/4 mile or so at a fast pace (HR up to 163). Another day off tomorrow, but I should be able to have a few weeks of consistent training after that. I have a triathlon (Intl distance - 1.5k swim/40k bike/10k run) first weekend of June, so I plan to keep up my running mileage, and add in bike and swim sessions regularly. I am also going to start mixing in some tempo runs to build towards my next mile attempt.

Day 109: 5.4mi, 48:14

Well, I missed my flight to Beijing this morning (thanks to my lovely ex-wife), so I was able to get in my run around Kensington Garden and Hyde Park today. I have my traditional air-travel induced sore throat, but the air in London is pretty mild today. I felt like I ran easy, but this was one of my better times on this course in recent weeks. Maybe it is working.

Day 105: 4mi, 35:10

This is Friday morning's run. I managed to run 6 of the last 7 days, which is not a target, but a result of knowing this coming week will be very light. I'll get to watch the London marathon live tomorrow, though, so that almost counts as a workout. :)
mile 1: 8:40
mile 2: 8:34
mile 3: 8:39
mile 4: 9:17

Day 104: 5mi, 45:22

An unremarkable but steady five miler this morning. It will be difficult to get much running in over the next week, as I'll be in London both weekends with my kids (i.e., no running) and in Beijing in between, where I can run but only under a heavy blanket of jet lag. I made it above 25 mpw last week, and I am trying to keep my rolling weekly mileage above that level. I know I need to get into the 30-40 mpw range, but the travel keeps getting in my way. When I come back from this trip, I am going to start mixing in some speed work. I could keep base building for a whle, but I think late summer is going to be my best opportunity to try to get close to 5 minutes, so I've gotta get moving!
mile 1: 8:44
mile 2: 8:37
mile 3: 8:55
mile 4: 9:16
mile 5: 9:48

Day 103: 4mi, 36:07

I started my run this morning more slowly than usual, at just under 9 minute miles, and I just stayed there. My HR did not get to 137 until about 2.5 miles in, and I only had to slow a little for the final mile. I intended to run again tonight, up until I arrived home, at which point I decided I was too tired. One good thing about this low HR training is that it really lowers the bar of motivation: it's much easier to convince myself to get out there, but there are still times when I feel drained. Like tonight. But I like the easier training. Not sure how much it is helping me towards my goal, but I enjoy it more. Like the Reebok ad says - run easy!
mile 1: 8:58
mile 2: 8:57
mile 3: 8:57
mile 4: 9:14

Day 101: 3mi, 26:13

My main goal tonight was actually to get in some time in the pool, so the run was more of a warm-up. Slept badly last night, so I felt very slow. I am getting cautiously optimistic about my adductor injury, which does not bother me at slow speeds. I am not going to do any speed work until at least two weeks from now, when I get back from my next trip. Even then, I am going to ramp into it, with some higher intensity workouts. I'll be more than three months into this low HR program at that point. It still feels like I just got started, but I have to start mixing in some speed work at some point. my splits today:
mile 1: 8:39
mile 2: 8:35
mile 3: 9:00

Day 100: 5mi, 43:57

I was on a running discussion forum yesterday, asking about indoor vs outdoor running, and why my times might be steadier outdoors. There was agreement that the cooling effect of wind could help keep the HR down. I also got a recommendation to run closer to my average pace at the beginning (i.e., slower), and that might help my pace in the later miles. So I tried that today, keeping my pace above 8:30 the whole time. My fifth mile was in 9:12, which is definitely one of the fastest fifth miles I've run under the low HR plan. I'll have to try it a few more times to see if it is more than just my having a good Sunday run.
My splits:
mile 1: 8:37
mile 2: 8:34
mile 3: 8:35
mile 4: 8:59
mile 5: 9:12
HR t+1: 125
HR t+5: 97

For those interested in the low HR chat forum it's here:
http://www.coolrunning.com/forums/Forum6/HTML/022020-25.shtml

Day 99: 8.64mi, 1:18:59

I was inspired to do a long run this morning by all the media coverage ahead of Monday's Boston Marathon. Saw quite a few of them along the river doing their last training miles as well. I felt very good today. My legs felt strong even though there was a stiff headwind during miles 2 through 5. My splits are taken at milestones on my route which only approximate another mile in distance, but I took them anyway.
mile 1: 8:13
mile 2: 8:15
mile 3: 10:02 (26:29 thru 3 miles)
mile 4.5 13:33
mile 6: 13:36
mile 7: 10:01
mile 8: 8:01
mile 8.6: 7:20

Once again, as in my last outdoor run along the Charles, my pace seems abnormally steady. when I run on the treadmill, my times go up every mile as I try to keep my HR steady, usually starting at 8 mins and ending around 10 mins at 6 miles. On today's run, even though the splits are not exact miles, some of them are the exact same distance, as I run basically an out and back loop. So mile 2 and mile 8 are the same distance, as are miles 3 and 7. In both cases, my 'back' time is faster than my 'out' time. The wind is definitely a big factor, as it was in my face going out and at my back on the return. That may account for all of it, but I am still surprised that it seems easier to keep the HR under control than indoors. Maybe the wind helps keep my body cool, so my heart does not have to work as hard to regulate temperature (it was about 45F out there today, before the wind chill, and I dress pretty lightly). In any case, I was glad to get in a good long run and feel good about it at the end.

Day 97: 6mi, 55:44

I felt tired even before I ran tonight, and I felt tired all the way through. Pretty slow times as well, except for that blazing last half mile at a 10min/mi pace! Just can not shake the cobwebs this week. Maybe when the sun reappears here in New England I'll feel better. My splits:
mile 1: 8:12
mile 2: 8:31
mile 3: 9:01
mile 4: 9:41
mile 5: 10:10
mile 6: 10:09
HR t+1: 125
HR t+5: 92

Day 96: 3mi, 26:17

Well, this is clearly turning out to be a rest week. Felt sluggish this morning, so kept the run short and slow. I meant to run again this evening, but I had an early work dinner. Tomorrow I'll do at least five. For sure.
mile 1: 8:17
mile 2: 8:43
mile 3: 9:17
HR 125 and 96 at t+1 and t+5

Day 94 (2): 3mi, 24:57

Still tired this evening, but I wanted to get in a swim. I'm doing a triathlon in June - international distance (0.9mi swim, 26mi bike, 6mi run) - so I need to spend some time in the pool. As a warm-up, I did another three miles on the treadmill.
mile 1: 8:05
mile 2: 8:01
mile 3: 8:49

Day 94: 3mi, 25:13

A four day layoff due to my Easter visit to London. Not sure it helped or hurt, but still a little travel fatigued this morning. Time only for a short run.
mile 1: 8:02
mile 2: 8:20
mile 3: 8:52

Day 89: 4mi, 34:02

My back was a dull ache all day, and I felt it during tonight's run. Otherwise I felt pretty good, so went out a little faster than normal. Overall, it looked a lot like yesterday's first four miles. My splits:
mile 1: 7:40
mile 2: 8:12
mile 3: 8:45
mile 4: 9:25
HR t+1: 130
HR t+5: 106

Day 88: 5mi, 44:11

Back on the treadmill tonight. My times are steadily improving over the past few weeks, but still far behind where I was a month or so ago (42:27 on day 58, e.g.), and also a lot slower than I was on Sunday (day 86) . Not quite sure what is going on. Felt reasonably good at the beginning, although my back has been bothering me all day, but felt tired and slow by the end. I guess that is my aerobic capacity talking. I really felt like running faster, not slowing down, as the miles wore on. I felt like I needed to dig deeper, rather than let my HR dictate a slower pace. But I stuck with the program. My splits:
mile 1: 7:54
mile 2: 8:06
mile 3: 8:44
mile 4: 9:27
mile 5: 10:00.0
HR t+1: 130
HR t+5: 105

Day 86: 6mi, 51:29

I had a good, steady outdoor run today. A few aches from miling yesterday, especially around the left adductor, but I felt like I kept a pretty constant pace throughout the run. I didn't really log the mile splits, since I don't know exactly where they are, but I turned around in 25:07, so the return was 26:20 or so, into a breeze. I made it to about the two mile mark in just under 16 minutes, and on the way back from that point to home was 16:42. That is a much steadier pace than I normally do on the treadmill, where the final mile is closer to 10 mins/mi pace. My HR t+1 was 105, and t+5 about 90. One reason my HR comes down faster when I run outside is that I normally do a cooldown run on the treadmill for five minutes, gradually slowing to a walk. When I run outside, I go straight to a walk.