Run/Ride!

A few days ago, I wrote about heart rate and training zones, and decided on the following based on my research:

my training zones are as follows:

60-75% = 136-154
75%-85% = 154-166

This works for me.

So while I will continue to investigate this area, I will try to do my training runs in the 139-156 range, resolving to slow or walk whenever my heart rate tops 156. I will try to do this twice a week.

Once a week I can run in the 156-167 range, provided I am off the next day.

So here's what happened today.

I woke up with a resting heart rate of 60.

I went to the track and walked a half mile. My heart rate monitor doesn't kick in until I start sweating (because the hair on my chest interferes with the electrodes in the chest band). Then I ran a mile with a heart rate of 160. So I walked a lap, and then ran another mile with a heart rate of 164, then walked a lap, ran a half mile with a heart rate of 162, walked a lap, and then ran another half mile with a heart rate of 160. I was not running fast. I was doing maybe a 10:30-11:00 min/mile pace. I wasn't particularly exhausted at the end. My legs felt fine.

This heart rate was higher than normal. Maybe wearing the underarmour keeps me hotter and that leads to the higher heart rate. Maybe, but I don't know.

I will try another similar run this week and see what happens.

I am going to buy a book on heart rate monitoring and get into this question as much as I can.

***

At noon I'm going to the bike shop.

***

I now own a bike. I just rode 3.8 miles, and lived to tell about it.

For accessories I got a computer that does MPH and miles, a bike basket with a nifty bag that slides right on it, a mirror, a car bike rack, a lock, a helmet, and a floor pump. I meant to get a water bottle holder, but they forgot to put it on. They told me to ride it for thirty days and then bring it in for a tuneup and that's when I'll get some other stuff like maybe a headlight.

So I drove to work and then did five laps around the circle. Before I had gone 1/4 of the way around, a big truck with one of those long trailers that transport heavy equipment tried to turn in front of me, and the trailer kept getting closer and closer as he angled his turn. I almost went off the road and he finally stopped.

I felt sort of unsteady on the bike, but I got better. I am still figuring out the gears. I don't know what I was in, but I began to recognize how I need to shift when the pedaling gets either too easy or two hard. On one turn I had to stop pedalling and coast to make it. It was a little windy and I didn't have gloves so my hands were getting cold. I was going anyway between 9 and 14 miles an hour. My quads were getting very tired. It is not like riding on a stationary bike. But I did go running earlier so who knows?

I am a long way from being able to ride to work, but I think riding the circle here at work will be easy. I also plan to take my bike down to the high school track. I can ride a route in that neighborhood, which is very residential, and then pull into the track, lock my bike to the fence and then run.