Running Notes by HJL

Brad Feld has the most awesome treadmill + multihead computer setup ever. Three displays, trackball and voice input wrapped around a Vision T9450HRT and an IBM ThinkCenter.

I’ve been playing with voice recognition (Dragon Naturally Speaking) but for me it’s been too fussy to use while running. My practical limit for treadmill multitasking seems to be conference calling and watching CNBC. I can’t read while running either.

Update 05-01-2006 2205 PDT: Now new and improved!

3/12/2006 through 3/18/2006 totals: 38.43 miles, longest 8.47 miles
Year to date: 372.91 miles.
Ran a set of T intervals this week to see how faster paces are feeling at the moment. 3 sets of 5 minutes @ 7:30 pace with 5 minutes at 10:00 recovery pace. I’m constantly feeling a little out of breath at the higher paces, like I’m not quite getting a full lungful of air. On the other hand, I’m not going totally anaerobic at 7:30 pace either, the HR flattens out in the mid-160s even though it feels crummy, and I seem to be recovering OK in between.

3/5/2006 through 3/11/2006 totals: 42.12 miles, longest 9.21 miles.
Year to date: 334.48 miles.

Ran high aerobic / T-pace (currently 8:00/mile) for 60 minutes, which was most of the long run. HR starting around 150 and ending in the mid 160’s after an hour. Today I did a set of pace intervals, alternating 5 minute periods of 7:30 pace and 10:00 pace. HR at mid 160’s during 7:30 pace, and around 130-140 during 10:00 recovery segments.

Things seem to be slowly improving. I still feel like I’m not getting enough air, especially at higher levels of effort. Last week’s 8:00 pace run was fairly uncomfortable, but I could see from the heart rate monitor that I wasn’t going anaerobic. Today’s pace interval workout felt pretty similar, although the intent is to go slightly anaerobic. I’m feeling generally sluggish but getting faster.

2/26/2006 through 3/4/2006 totals: 41.08 miles, longest 12.21 miles
Year to date: 292.36 miles.

Ran another set of hill intervals at the same incline but slightly faster pace (9:30) last Sunday. This was also the longest run so far on this training cycle.