Some data

Well I finally got a new battery for my HR monitor to see how my heart is doing compared to my legs. The data was pretty shocking! I've used it on 2 runs and 1 ride so far, and I've realized how out of shape my heart is compared to my legs. The two runs that I have used it on were with Nick Best (32 min 10k cross country this year). He invites me out for his second run of he day, which is usually just a slow tempo for him. I wad amazed to see that my heart rate never dropped below 175, even on downhills. To have a HR of 175 in the summer would mean a pretty painful interval effort that couldn't be sustained for longer than 5 minutes. On one uphill I even hit the 190s!

The crazy thing is that for such a high HR, I don't feel that bad. I can carry on a conversation with nick ( although it's easier for him) and my legs don't burn at all. I have also noticed that my HR never recovers, which I guess is why I die in the middle of workouts these days. The same thing happens on the bike. I usually have a higher HR when running compared to biking, but now it's the same. Just increasing my cadence to 110 will get my HR up to 160, something I could rarely do this summer if I tried my hardest.

What this basically tells me is that when you decrease your training, your heart is the first to go. I'm sure a lot of people already knew that, but I really thought my legs would be holding my comeback in check, not my heart.
Tonight was a beautiful twilight run with nick in the snow. Something just felt peaceful about tonights run. I've been going through intervews and cuts for jobs lately so it's nice to get out and clear my head.
A dopo,
mj