Last Hill Run Before Huntly

I didn't have very high hopes for this hill run tonight. I hadn't trained over the weekend and had overdone it on the food front. It was Jo's birthday on Saturday and we had a great day out which included eating out, cakes and late eating.










We had a BBQ on Sunday and although a fellow blogger tried to trick me with delicious chocolate pudding(s) I was fairly restrained with my eating. However later that night the left overs (non-chocolate of course) looked (and tasted) delicious and I definitely overdid it. This was followed by ice-cream and peanuts drizzled with honey. Would have been healthier to have scoffed a couple of chocolate cakes!

I had a scheduled 30 min run for Monday evening. Unfortunately after a very hard day at work (lifting very heavy pens to write on the white-board) I fell asleep on the floor and didn't wake up till 8pm. I was in no fit state to go out after that and so I decided to run the following morning.

I managed to get up at 6.15am (I think) and out for 6.45 for the worst run of my half M training so far. Mile pace wasn't too bad but I just felt like cr@p. Best feeling was finishing and showing that I could get up and get out, even if it was only 30 mins. Don't think my body had been awake long enough before the run. I'll get up earlier for Huntly.

So tonights run .... it went much better than expected. The hills are challenging (for me) and I was pleased to be able to hold a fairly good pace. It was only a short run but I was pleased with the 8:40 pace.



Got an early birthday present yesterday. A heart rate monitor. This should make my Half Ironman training for December a bit more 'scientific'. It's going to give me so much more data :) haha. Can't wait :)

Strategy for tonights run was below 130 for first 10 mins, mid 140s for rest of way out and then mid 150s for way back. Was pleased to be able to hold the mid 150s fairly comfortably on the way back. I think this will be my (very flexible) plan for Huntly. Not sure how the race buzz will affect the HR though. Basic plan - first 5K in the 130s. 10K in 140s-150s and then last K's as fast as I can. I'll practice a similar thing on my last long run (90 mins) on Saturday.

Tonight's run Max HR 169, Avg HR 147