Boston Training, Week 6

Tuesday - 8 mile hill workout at 8:13 pace. Good workout, piriformis still slightly sore. I was surprised at the reading on the heart rate monitor. I didn't realize how intense this workout was but the uphill readings in the early miles were 161-162 and by the final couple of hills it was more like 168-169. 161 is the high end of a lactate threshold workout and the 168 is the low end of a vo2 max workout. I guess hills really are speed work in disguise. Overall, average bpm was 152.

Wednesday - 4 mile recovery run on the treadmill at 8:52 pace. I wore the heart rate monitor and was surprised that it worked in my basement. Started in the low 120's and gradually climbed to a max of 135 during the final mile.

Thursday - 8 mile hill workout at 8:29 pace. Intentionally went out a little slower today but ended up working pretty hard by the end. Right hammie was a bit sore but loosened up after a mile or so. Piriformis only slightly sore today. Avg bpm 155, max 171.

Saturday - 12 miles at 8:29 pace, avg bpm 151. This is a recovery week so I stayed away from the hills and ran the majority of the miles on the bike path. Pretty good run. According to Pfitz, my LR avg bpm should be in the 130-148 range but I was pretty much stuck at 151-152 for most of the run. It felt OK, so I didn't sweat it. Plus, technically, this was a MLR, so there, I justified running too hard.

I've been experiencing some numbness on the bottom of my left foot for the past few days. I had it right before Columbus in October and after switching to a new shoe, the pain/numbness gradually went away. My current shoes hit 250 miles a week or two ago so I opened a new box and continued to use the old shoes for short, recovery runs (4-5 miles). The pain actually started at about the 250 mile point, but it was mild. The past few days has been the worst that it has ever been. So I'm icing and hoping for the best. It's not effecting my stride and it's not much more uncomfortable than any of my other myriad pains during runs, so I'm hoping to cruise through it but it is definitely annoying, at the least.

Sunday - 5 miles at 9:18 recovery pace, avg bpm 134. Pain/numbness in left foot was still pretty bad this morning. Pretty intense on the downhills and slight pain on the uphills. I need to figure this out and correct it.