Date: 3/18/22
Training Day: 103
Activity: Strength

How It Felt: The workout was a wee intense, especially the walking lunges. But it felt good!

Commentary: Alright, it’s official. I’m jumping on the low intensity bandwagon. I did more research, and it just makes sense.

Last year, I did a lot of snowshoeing and hiking during the winter. Odds are, that counted as low intensity training. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s why I felt like a stronger runner this time last year. Until I start hiking again, I’m going to adjust my training for more low intensity runs.

When I do strides in the middle of my run, my heart rate stays higher afterwards. Instead of getting rid of my strides, I’m moving them to the end of my run. That will give me more time in Zone 2.

When I ran in Boise last weekend my heart rate was in Zone 3 for most of the run because of the climbs and me not taking it easy on the downhills. If my long run is a trail run (which they all should be from now on), then no intervals/fartlek that week. And I plan to take the downhills and flats as recovery time instead of trying to push myself to get a faster overall pace for the run. I’ll still do hill repeats, but probably only every other week.

While this might not get me to 80% of my training volume in Zone 2, it’s a start. Once I start hiking and backpacking, I’ll take that time into account for my training and adjust accordingly. Which probably just means adding intervals/fartlek back in.

Although the idea of going sloooooow is mentally challenging, even as I sit here typing, I know it will be good for me in the long run. I’m so punny!

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