Perplexed..doubting...question marks...

Doubts...

Spent a good half hour talking with my phys ed teacher colleague at school today. He is resuming regular exercise after about 3 yrs off (quit coaching for arrival and caring of newborn, house built, etc., just real life), he mentioned that he is getting a stress test and full physical before resuming exercise, a good idea for anyone. Told him about my normal stress test last week, which made him say "Yeah, I should have picked up on this when you first told me about your heart rate stuff...the way you're running--you're anaerobic!" AAAAAahhhhh, sounds as bad as "overpronator" does to the uninitiated...

He basically told me that I am not building endurance or really burning fat if I take such frequent walk breaks. That I am not maintaining for a good 15-20 min at an aerobic level, approx. 50-60% of my max HR (which is approx. 183) and that ultimately, I am not doing my heart any favor by racing it up and down for every workout (speed workouts would be different, but they would be shorter in duration and not every run). I told him I really dig my one minute walk breaks every 3 or 4 minutes, and he told me to find another way to reward myself, lol, to eat dessert or something:-) But he would recommend running straight through.

He also told me that--and this is scandalous!!--he does not stretch before exercise nor does he advocate that with his students: rather, he does "dynamic" stretching--gentle rolling of ankles, moving of joints, maybe some--we called them this in dance class--grapevines ("dynamic" stretching as opposed to "static" stretching, which is the traditional stuff I do before & after a run). And yep, stretching after is a good thing (phew, I'm doing THAT right at least).

He was not prechy or judgemental, he gives me all the props in the world for getting out there and starting to run! He's just giving me his solicited thoughts on it all. I respect this guy. He was a track coach for years, before that he ran all kinds of races, 10Ks, etc., his dad was a track coach before him...the guy knows his stuff. He is clearly on the other side of the philosophical spectrum than the one I've been reading--fine, the world is more interesting with differing opinions by knowledgable folks, would be boring if we all only ate chocolate ice cream and all that. But it's completely at odds with the Galloway training (advocating frequent walk breaks) I am doing. Crap. The doubts are creeping in again.

I run 30 minutes tomorrow, and I will run--slowly--straight through. I've done it before. And I will continue to read up on this. Can't imagine running 13.1 miles straight through. But maybe it can be done. But I'd better take some more baby steps before, well, running a [Half] marathon.

Quick run & doc report

I totally bagged my long run this weekend to do Christmas preparations:-( That said, I stole a half hour today and actually ran in the daylight at the HS track today. Ran a short 2 miles, 1/8 mile walk break in there at the halfway mark, but ran the rest of the way. Felt good.

2 miles
23:55 (approx 12 min/mile)

The doc (who is a heart guy as well as a gp) says that whatever is making my pulse race is NOT life-threatening, first & foremost, so that is good. But he is sending me for a stress test (you walk/run on a treadmill and they watch your heart) the day after Christmas to see if they can figure out what is making it happen when I exercise. Possible solutions, based on what, if anything, they find, could be 1) slow the heck down (like I'm speeding along already with my 12-minute miles, right?;-)), or 2) give me some sort of medicine to take before I exercise to keep it in control.

But that's the scoop, everything else with me is A-OK! He didn't say to stop running, he gave me props for starting:-)

Hmmm...another weird run

2.51 miles
30:00 (11:57/mile)

Glad for my checkup tomorrow...I had the speedy pulse again tonight half way through my 30 minute run. Luckily it calmed down with a 3 minute walk break and then just R2W1 the remaining 10 minutes.

Warm night, 40, loved the Christmas lights again, but I was pushing the pace and working a little harder tonight.

Much-needed day off tomorrow for checkup, checkup for 18 month old little one, write a Christmas newsletter, start making the 30 teacher and colleague gifts I have planned, and oh, yeah, will start Christmas shopping (I am one of those frenzied last-minute shoppers). We end our day with a Hot Chocolate Sing-A-Long at my 5 year old's preschool, then Christmas party with our Youth Group @ church. Days off are crazier than the regular ones, stop the treadmill, I want to get off for a minute:-P

Not resting on my 8K laurels for long...back to training

Weird run. Started off so nicely--I was enjoying the crisp night and neighborhood Christmas lights, that was a peaceful few moments as the crazy holiday season begins. But the run went south fast at mile 2.5...more on that later.

3.35 miles
41:15 (12:18/mile)

The numbers don't tell the whole story. Just like last month, I had the rapid heartrate thing again at exactly 30 minutes into the run with about .8 mile to go--don't worry, NOT shortness of breath, just a racing heart (don't know how better to explain it)--so I took a 6 min walk break right then to calm heart down. Which is when the infernal side stitch began. I resumed light jogging for 2 min but the pain of the stitch was too much, walked a minute more. I finished "strong" (read: jogging) with about 2 min jogging which brought me to the end of my route.

NOTE: I am glad I have a full checkup scheduled for about 2 weeks from now. And the GP is also a heart specialist. I am sure I'm fine, but it will be good to hear it from a pro.

4 Miler

Furthest I've ever gone. Had this weird rapid heartrate thing about .25 miles into the run. Inexplicable--it was cool, still daylight, I was not yet out of breath, but my heartrate jumped, I could feel it (I don't have a monitor) . This has happened to me once every few years, always in a sport situation but never while at full exertion (i.e., while stretching before a softball game). I slowed way the heck down, walked even more in the run/walk routine, and got it back down about 15 min later. I was never out of breath or in distress, just could feel my heart racing.

The good news is that I fought out of it, and nearly 53 min later finished a 4 miler. Safely.
4.15 miles
52:50 (12:43/mile)

Really slow. Lots of walking to get myself together. But I felt fine at the end, really, not exhausted or sucking wind. Bet the legs will be a little sore tomorrow, though.