A Kind of “Jeffing” 8k

[Birdlady64]

I ran 7km last weekend in a little under an hour, so the idea today was to run for around an hour, or to reach 8km. I wanted this to be a nice slow run in Zone 3, but my heart rate just wasn’t playing ball.

Maybe because I’m tired. A late night last night, after coconut chicken curry and a glass or several of red wine 🍷 and catching up on missed episodes of season 8 of Spiral saw another Sunday morning lie in 💤💤. Not the greatest preparation for a run. But hey ho!

Or maybe because I smacked my head on the corner of the mantelpiece after bending down to take my watch off charge. I literally saw stars ✨🌟⭐

Anyway, after a brunch of poached eggs on toast I eventually set off around mid afternoon. 7/8 tights, t-shirt and long-sleeved top today – no gloves, and definitely no buff! I slipped my lightweight jacket on over the top to keep the wind off on my warm-up walk. I was glad of the jacket as the wind was really chilling, but why oh why didn’t I take it off before I started to run? Maybe I will learn one day 🙄

Yes – you guessed it – overheating again🥵before I reached 2k the jacket comes off and I tie it round my waist. I glance at my watch and it tells me I’m already running in the red zone. I make a concerted effort to slow down but my heart rate isn’t coming down. I decide to walk for a bit until I reach my recovery rate. This doesn’t take long and I start running again, but at a slower pace than before. My heart rate climbs almost immediately into the red zone again. I walk to reach recovery rate again.

The gremlins start talking to me 👿Should I just cut this run short? Bail out at 4k? I’ve got a fair walk home if I do that.

Right Diane – if this is how it’s going to be on this this is what we’ll do. Run until we reach the next km marker and then let’s walk until we reach recovery rate again. Rinse and repeat until we get to 60 minutes or 8km.

So that’s exactly what I did. It kind of felt like a bit of a cheat, but as the run progressed I noticed my heart rate wasn’t climbing quite as high. Great!

😁

The Leisure Centre car park was heaving today. Couples walking round and round – surely there are nicer places to walk? Family groups, kids on bikes and scooters. A gaggle of teenagers with remote controlled electric cars and a group of lads playing soccer inside the locked five-a-side pitches (no idea how they got in there – the fence is really high).

I’m approaching 60 minutes on my run and decide to continue on to reach 8k so I head off up the unmade road along the far side of the woods. The sun is starting to go down behind the fields so I stop to take a photo.

In the end my run is just 15% in the red zone and 66% in Zones 2 and 3 – so not exactly what I’d planned, but not too far off either. It just wasn’t the way I’d wanted to do this run.

This is my longest “run” in around 3 months. The last time I ran 8k was at the beginning of October in a time of 1:13:42

. Todays run was almost 7 minutes faster than that, even with the walking.

Maybe I should investigate this Jeffing thing properly?

[Sandraj39 Graduate10]

Well done on your run - what a huge chunk to take off your 8k time!👍I have never run to HR - although I do glance at my stats AFTER a run to see if it reflects how I felt!

Lovely photo too btw!🙂

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to Sandraj39]

Thanks!I stopped looking at my watch until after my runs for quite a while. Today was the first time in ages. I overheated on my last run and my heart rate was elevated when I checked the stats afterwards. If I hadn't got too hot again today I don't think I would have bothered too much but I just glanced down at my watch and thought "oh - that's quite high".

I think I might go back to not worrying again. It seems to suit me better

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

Pretty good considering, and looks lovely with the sun going down, we tried jeffing once, got it completely wrong, the run parts were sprints the walk parts too short and pulled a calf muscleI think if you are in the red but feeling ok i think you can blame it on the watch, it’s interesting though that it doesn’t go up so high later in the run, mine just goes up and up lol but never as high as my first few runs

A real success then and I loved reading about it

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate in reply to SueAppleRun]

And your average pace is way faster than mine so woo hoo

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

The photo doesn't really do it justice. I used to run across that field to the trees in the distance last summer early in the morning. It was wonderful. The wood you can see on the horizon on the left is awash with bluebells in Spring. I am so lucky to have this on my doorstep.I was really pleased with the time. I will never be the fastest, but I'm starting to feel like I'm making proper progress at last.

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate in reply to Birdlady64]

Great progress and i can’t wait til spring to see your photos of bluebells

[GailXrunning]

So interesting. For different reasons (although ultimately probably much the same ones), I’m currently interweaving run and walk. I’m finding it’s making very little difference to my times. I’m generally on c5km distances.. and it’s ‘costing’ me only 30 seconds max. I think the running elements might become stronger through the alternations of exertion-recovery... and I’ve only been doing this for a very short time.

I have read of longer distance runners / pros who have ‘Jeffed to success’ - even in competition - so what you describe is evidenced.

I’ve read others on the forum are using the method.

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to GailXrunning]

Yes it is interesting. It seems so counterintuitive doesn't it that you can go faster by walking?I assume the ROI gets better over longer distances so maybe you need to go longer than 5k for it to show?

[GailXrunning in reply to Birdlady64]

Could be, and I’d thought exactly the same as I was writing. I’m not focusing on pace or distance at the moment, but on introducing full nasal breathing. So it’s a bit like stepping back from where I was (with pace and distance) but running with a different foundation. Actually, the ‘step back’ has proved to be minimal and I’m feeling pretty confident I’ll rebuild to where I was very quickly. But the principles are close to what you were having to manage on your run; the only difference was you monitored heart rate and I was monitoring the points where the nasal breathing became a bit difficult to maintain (at which point, the recovery walk).

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to GailXrunning]

nasal breathing - now that's interesting

[GailXrunning in reply to Birdlady64]

It is. Not as easy as it sounds, though; but, then again, not as difficult as it initially seemed. On c25k, I’d established a rhythm of in through nose and out through mouth mostly, which is absolutely fine. The theory is that full nasal breathing has longer term advantages - if you are prepared to give the time for the transition. Will see!

[Grannyhugs Graduate10]

Great 8k well done. I’m always interested in people running to HR and suffering from heat, as you know. Have you tried warmup and cool down exercises at home so you don’t need so many layers outside? I always start and finish at the house. Have you adjusted your device for your own maximum HR rather than the preprogrammed one. Happy running 🤗

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to Grannyhugs]

Thanks. I was pleased in the end with my run.I don't normally try to run to heart rate. I tried it a while ago and it just didn't work for me. Part of it was not having the right settings on my watch, even though I'd adjusted my max heart rate.I changed my zones to use % heart rate reserve which takes into account your resting heart rate. This seems to work much better than the simple % max heart rate formula.

I always do dynamic stretches before I set off - and have done the warmup and cooldown walks since starting c25k. It works well and I'm a little wary of changing my routine for fear of getting injured.

[Grannyhugs Graduate10 in reply to Birdlady64]

You’re doing great 🙆🏼‍♀️🤗

[Jools2020 Graduate10]

Sometimes I have exactly the same challenge with my heart rate. I just ignore it now, unless I’m heading a bit close to Zone 5. In my case, I don’t think it’s to do with overheating, but anxiety or air quality. Sometimes I can’t work out a reason for it at all.

Well done for your new 8K time, that’s quite an improvement! It certainly would be worth looking at Jeffing.

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to Jools2020]

I agree - it often feels like there's no real reason for it. I don't know if it is down to overheating, but it certainly doesn't help psychologically.

A while back I did change my watch to use percentage of heart rate reserve (HRR) which also takes into account your resting heart rate. Some watches do this for you but with mine I had to work it out and enter the numbers for the Zone boundaries myself. It's still not perfect, but it seems to reflect my perception of reality a lot better.

I'm pretty pleased with the improvement since October. My 7k run last week was similar so I guess this proves that wasn't a fluke. 😁

[Tillybeach Graduate10]

Well done! All sounds good to me. I had a bit of an irritating failed run today. Too many people in the park to navigate. Watch failed to synch alike headphones so no music then hip ache started which always kicks in if i don’t warm up for long enough. So only got to 3.5 k! Anyway glad your achievements were better!

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to Tillybeach]

Thanks Tillybeach. At least you got out there and did a run. 3.5k is better than 0k Tech malfunctions can really throw everything off kilter as well so kudos to you for getting through that👍Hope your hip is OK

[Hidden]

Ooh well done on your run Birdlady! That's a fantastic time. Jeffing clearly agrees with you!⭐

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks!I was pleasantly surprised by the time all things considered.

[CBDB Graduate10]

Nice, I also ran today my 8k and there were so many walkers out and about. I almost prefer running in rain, as it means less people to slalom around! 🤣🤣👍🏽👏✔️

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to CBDB]

Yes people are a pain aren't they! I like running in the rain - it's quite refreshing - as long as it isn't pouring down

[Fionamags Graduate10]

Interesting post about jeffing and HRs. I shall see if my watch does HRR. You got a cracking time with that method so i shall be watching out for your next posts to see how you go.

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to Fionamags]

It was unintentional, but yes it is interesting to see how you can go faster by walking. I'm in 2 minds as to whether to try it again or not

[Lifluf Graduate10]

Well done Birdlady. Sounds like a good run despite struggling to get the flow right at times and that's a great improvement in overall time for your 8k.I think my longer runs will have to wait until the mud dries up a bit round here.

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to Lifluf]

Yes - I know what you mean about mud. My usual trail/off-road routes are virtually impassable at the moment. It's crazy. I don't really like running on the road -especially over long distances, but I'm trying to get my distance back up again.

[Lifluf Graduate10 in reply to Birdlady64]

I've done the opposite - decided to wait. I've got a 4k and 6k route that are all roads and not too busy if I pick my time although none have pavements as I'm very rural. But they'll keep me ticking along for a few weeks and I'll start building up again when the weather improves.

[Hareshaw-Granny Graduate10]

Another good run under your belt, red wine notwithstanding (like your style). After reading your HR zone issues, would you possibly be able to adjust the zones to help with that? I adjusted mine v slightly and it has made almost all of my running in 2 and 3. I was given advice that as long as you’re not gasping for breath and feeling comfortable whilst running to adjust to suit as we’re all different and HR zone measuring is not an exact science.👍PS have just read all your replies and that suggestion has been well covered already, anyway had written it so sent it. 🤣

[Birdlady64 Graduate10]

Thanks! Like I said I'm still not sure the settings are 100% correct but it's much better than a simple % max heart rate. From what I can see the effect is to compress thing at the higher end of the scale so you end up with much wider bands in the lower zones. As you say its not an exact science and it's more important to be aware of your body and how you feel

[nowster Graduate10]

Run/Walk intervals do work, as you've found out. I find I run faster when I do that. The average pace is often only a little slower than the same distance done at a distance pace.

What usually puts my HR up is any form of hill. But like Jools2020 there's often no obvious reason why it goes up to zone 4 during the warm up walk and refuses to come down no matter how slowly you run.

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to nowster]

If only we could figure out why that happens. As you say there often seems to be no rhyme not reason. I was pleased with the run in the end but Mr Garmin remains unimpressed 😶