I’ve been inspired by a few people’s long runs recently. Having lost the love for runs over 10-11 miles, and focussing on my zone 3 runs of a lower distance for a few months now (but upping the mileage overall), I decided I’d go for a long run before going back to work in a couple of weeks.
Planned a 14 mile route with the option to cut it down to 10 if needed. HATED the first 8 miles (which are all gradually uphill) but then I found my pace. I kept adding on as was in the zone. 17th mile my legs started to get quite tired so I stopped at 18 miles. No stops at all either! This is a first for me. Marathon training last year was brutal and I only just got through it. This run is another massive piece of evidence that low heart rate training rules!
Written by
Tasha99
Marathon
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30 Replies
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Wooooooooooooooooooooooow 🎽
Love this 💙 you did it!! I'm so chuffed reading this. 18 miles is an incredible distance. Well done you. I really hope this gives you the confidence to believe in yourself. No stops too on a distance like this is fantastic. You are inspiring me to do 18 for my next long run. Rest up today now and be so proud of yourself. Epic 🥇
I'm interested in heart rate training so think I may have a go after I've finished my HM plan.
I've set my heart rate max on Garmin to make it more accurate (which I believe you advised someone to do on a previous post) and generally I seem to run in zone 4 so would need to slow things right down which I'm sure would be challenging initially.
It is hard in the first couple of weeks and it takes a bit of patience 🤣 But it allows you to increase mileage as you take barely any recovery. It develops your aerobic base which is what has seen me improve so much.
No not at all. It’s just a method of improving your aerobic base. Lots of very slow running which in turn makes your fast pace faster and your endurance to do long distance much better. Google ‘slow down to speed up’ running.
Everybody on C25K says slow down. Having read it there are similarities. You only need to spend a relatively small amount of time in zone 3 (8%) a bit more in zone 2 (21%) but most of it in zone 1 low intensity (71%). So by that rationale the low intensity running I’m currently doing will eventually help me run faster...
My maximum heart rate according to the calculation of 220 minus my age is 163 - so far the maximum heart rate I have running is 156. According to my FitBit on Thursday I did 3hours and 28mins of activity - of which 22mins were peak, 29mins cardio and the rest fat burn.
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