Becoming Obsessed!

Good evening all,

I hope that your week has been good, and you are feeling well.  I have had an exhausting week, and am thinking I may have become a little obsessed!


Monday - Rest day, which normally I would be grateful of and enjoy, bar not being able to eat as much as I would like, however this week I was taking the challenge to rack up my step count and needed to hit at least 10,000 steps.  When I got home from work, I wasn't any where near my step count so as my daughter was walking to the station to go to work, I joined her and then followed round to the other station to meet Rob on his way home from work. 15083 Steps

Tuesday - Short run day, I had to do 10 minutes warm up, 10 minutes steady effort and 10 minutes cool down.  I got up early and was out by 6am, I jogged my warm up at just shy of 8 min/KM and then ran 10 minutes at 6.14 min/km and finished with a cool down at 8 min/km,  This in turn also started me well on my step count for the day. 10136 steps

Wednesday - Cross training day, I had also received my HRM strap that syncs with my Tom Tom Runner watch.  I went to the gym and started on the treadmill, set at 0.5 incline, with my HRM in place, I started walking at 10 min/km for 2 minutes, then 2 minutes at 8 min/km then 2 minutes at 7 min/km then back to walking for 2 minutes and then 2 minutes at 6 min/km 3 minutes walking and then 1 minute at 5.5 min/km then finished with a walk.  I then went on the bike.

When I left the gym a quick look at my phone told me that yet again I wasn't near my step count, I dumped my bits in the car and went for a long walk around Hartham to make up my steps. 12395 Steps

Thursday - We all had a day off today, so I started by going to do my intervals,  but as I wanted to get my Maximum Heart Rate from my HRM so I could start HR Training  I went flat out on the first three, slowed on the Forth and then couldn't complete the fifth and sixth as was shattered to the point my chest hurt and I felt sick.  I walked/jogged home.

Once I was home, bathed, and back to normal breathing we all decided to go for a nice long walk.  We drove to Stevenage and enjoyed a Pizza Hut Buffet and then drove to Fairlands Valley park.  Another part of Robs Ultra Challenge weekend is a 6 miler on the Saturday, so we decided to walk this.  I didn't find it as fun as the other walks we had done, it was quite boring and therefore felt long and I was aching terribly by the time we had finished it.

We then went to Asda to do the weekly shop, and I realised that I was close to getting on the fitbit/parkrun challenge leader board, so off I set round Asda like a woman on a mission!  I made it! Then when we got home I took the dog for a walk and realised that I could get even better ... 15th place on the leader board if I did a bit more so off I went for another walk! 35708 steps

Friday - Back to work... for a rest!  Again it was a rest day and so by the time I had got home I hadn't got close to my 10000 steps, so out I went again for a walk to meet Rob from the station and back. Then later on that evening off down to meet Chloe from the station when she had finished work. 14642 Steps

Saturday - So today we had decided to do a different Park Run, the Stevenage one which was 2 laps around the Fairlands Valley Lakes, it is mainly path and only a few very small inclines apart from the very end which is up a nasty but short hill.  I was hoping that it would be a chance to see how my speed had improved and wanted a fairly easy course to get a good 5K time.

Baring in mind that my fastest local Park Run was 38:11 and my fastest 5K now was in an interval training session at 36:11, whilst secretly hoping to get as close to 35 as possible I would be happy with beating 36.

I started well, and had completed a whole lap with out walking, 1km came in at just under 7 minutes, 2km came in at just under 14 minutes, by 3 km I had done a small walk and was just over 21 minutes, it was warm and I was suffering the effects of the bottle of wine I had had the night before.  I didn't really look at my watch after that as I knew I was slowing and walking a fair bit so thought all hope of getting a PB had gone out of the window.  I came down the last straight before you turned to climb the hill to the finish and my legs had nothing left in them so i had to walk up it.  There was a young kid very close behind me catching up and I was determined not lo let him over take me, at the top of the hill there is a straight of about 80 meters and I ran as fast as I could to the finish line.

Looking at my watch I was only at 4.95km so I continued to walk until I had made the 5KM otherwise my strava wouldn't register it.  I also noted I was under 36 minutes but wasn't sure at what time I had crossed the line.  My official time was 35:08, I was so happy, it wasn't sub 35 but it was close enough and a very good PB.

In the evening we had tickets for a Gin festival, at our local cricket club.  they had over 30 different 15780 steps

Gins and I couldn't wait to try them.  It was something completely different to anything we normally do, and of course we walked there and back.  My favourite gin was Bath Tub Sloe Gin which had a marzipan and almond taste.  Cannot wait to buy some!

Today- I have come to realise that I had been doing far too much with all of the walking and my training so today I have taken an extra rest day, well apart from mowing the back garden.  My legs are very stiff as they are not getting the time to recover, they also need a massage. I also think that I have been a bit obsessed with the walking, so think that it will be the only challenge of the series I sign up to.... but we shall see.

Heart Rate Training - HRR Method
(Please remember that all of my training has been fully written by a professional for me personally.  Please seek medical/professional advice before embarking/changing intense physical activity.)


So next week I am starting Heart Rate Training using the HRR (Heart Rate Reserve ) Method, so I wanted to explain what this means and how it is worked out.

As I touched on in my last post using Heart Rate Training can be a better form of training as it can stop you training too hard and risking injury and burn out.  The theory is to train in between different zones depending on what type of training you are doing.

You will need two measurements to work out your training zones, your resting heart rate (RHR) and your maximum heart rate (MHR).  Using the data from my interval run on Thursday we have set my maximum Heart Rate at 200 (the highest it peaked as I felt that I could not have done anything more this day, I had run as fast as I could), For now we have estimated at 68 for my resting heart rate, as I am currently working this out by taking it each morning as I wake.

You then use the formula
MHR - RHR = HRR
(HRR x Training %) + RHR

Example using my data:
MHR - RHR = HRR
200 - 68 =  132

132 x 35% = 46 + 68 = 114bpm
(35% would be the start of Zone 1 which would be walking)
132 x 60% = 79 + 68 = 147bpm
(60% Would be the start of Zone 2 and used as easy effort)
and so on...

As a rough guide I will use the following percentages...
Zone 1 - 35 - 55% - Walking
Zone 2 - 60 - 65% - Easy Effort
Zone 3 - 70 - 75% - Steady Effort
Zone 4 - 80 - 85% - Threshold Effort
Zone 5 - 90 - 100% - Speed Work/10k Race Pace

I cannot wait to give this a go and see how it fairs compared to my previous training and how it helps me improve!

Much love
FBB xx