F the MAF, IT band tag team, books & rest days are back

First off, the MAF training...

Didn't go well.  I got REALLY tired of doing the same pace 

All

The 

Time

Boring.  I like easy runs. Fast runs. Long runs.  Short runs.  This is starting to sound like a Dr. Seuss book.  Anyway, I like the feeling of a hard run.  I enjoy sometimes just running for fun.  I hated the monotony of it.  And, if it means not hitting race times or not making me a better runner...so be it.  I have to enjoy what I'm doing, or I won't do it.  Isn't that why we all run? 

I enjoy creating my own workouts & pushing myself.  I figure I've consistently knocked down my race times, so I must be doing something right.  So, I'm sticking with my own methods :)

Not to mention, my IT band has been horrible the last 2 weeks.  This week, it resulted in 20 measly miles for the week.  I also did alot of elliptical & spin, but pretty much took it easy.  

The longest run in the past few weeks was yesterday for 8.  I'll take it!!!  

Pain free, which is a million times better than my try on Monday when I was in tears it hurt so bad.

Lots of foam rolling, stretching, and clam moves to strengthen the hips.

Last spring it was my right IT band, now it's my left.  

I wasn't paying attention to the important key factors in keeping me injury free.  I was skipping my foam rolling, stretching and strength moves.  I was overdue for some new shoes.  And, I probably jumped back into some speed too fast from all the MAF work.

Happy to say I think I'm back :)

I also realized I ran a pretty good marathon time for my first one...and I did it on my own training plan.

So, I'm not using the Advanced Marathoning plan anymore.  I discovered this book this weekend, and I'm in love with it.  So, I'll use this plan as a guide.  

Another book I'm re-reading now that I LOVE is Chris Charmichael's book Food for Fitness.

It's so no-nonsense & perfect for athletes.  I love one of his comments...

There is no super food, there is no evil food.  So true, and in the world of blogging & nutrition being flooded with this diet & that elimination, or this food will make you have super powers or eat more fat and you'll run for days with no need for fuel....I LOVE his basic, good result-proven guidance.   Highly suggest this book to anyone putting in some endurance training.  

I read it last fall when training for one of the half's I ran, and I felt awesome.  So much energy to complete workouts & was at a comfortable racing weight for me.

Rest days are back, too.  

I need them.  Sundays will be full on rest days.  I need them in my life right now to keep up with kids...

 housework, groceries, visiting family, church, baking cookies, everything!!!  

It's so nice to start the week feeling fully recharged & actually WANTING to get some good workouts in.

Pretest-MAF running

Reading a new endurance book, The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing.  

I love numbers and new training plans, so this got me excited.  I also am curious to why I train at such a fast pace, but my race times don't correlate.  Something's going on.  Either I just don't race well, or I'm lacking aerobic fitness, as this book leads you to believe.

The book tells you to train in your aerobic MAF zone (which for me is 138-148 beats per minute).  No anaerobic training allowed during your aerobic building period.  This is hard for me because I enjoy fast track workouts & HIIT intervals, tempo runs...basically anything that leaves you exhausted & worked.  

Anyway, I decided to give myself a little pretest today, since I had an easy 8 on the schedule.  I wore my heart rate monitor and decided to warm up a mile, try to run in my target heart rate for 6, and then cool down a mile.  Here are my pretest numbers:

Mile 1 (warmup) 8:51 pace, 129 HR

Mile 2 8:24 pace, 143 HR

Mile 3 8:15 pace, 142 HR

Mile 4 8:22 pace, 143 HR

Mile 5 8:29 pace, 144 HR

Mile 6 8:32 pace, 143 HR

Mile 7 8:24 pace, 144 HR

Mile 8 (cooldown) 9:08 pace, 138 HR

Observations:  This didn't seem as easy-feeling as everyone says in the book.  In the book, you hear COUNTLESS stories about how running in this heart rate feels turtle slow.  It didn't feel slow to me, just felt like my normal running pace.  Hmmmm.  

I'll continue shooting for this heart rate in my running.  Currently, I'm scheduled for around 65 miles per week, building to around 80 towards end of summer for my fall marathon.  

I think I'll do another test in 4 weeks to see what results I get.  My prediction is, I'm not going to see much increase in my speed with the same heart rates.  I have a feeling I have a solid aerobic base and I just suck at racing.  We'll see!!!