FANTASTIC 4.33 RUN THIS A.M.

Had a great run this morning despite having chinese food for dinner last night. We were at my in-laws watching the Ranger game (Game 1 of the Pittsburgh Penguins series). Great game, but they blew a 3-0 lead, and lost with 1:49 left of the game, 5-4. They need to work on consistency, and playing the puck, and playing defensively. They got that lead, and sat back on their heels:( Anyway, I got out voted and we had Chinese food, and figured I would pay for it during my run today. But I didn't. No stitches, No aches and pains, just a wonderful 4.33 miles. It was a beautiful day today. About 52 degrees when I went out. Plan was to keep it nice and slow (keeping the HR under 70%), and I did that. I set my Garmin's virtual partner (a.k.a. George), to run 4 miles in 48 minutes, a 12 minute pace. I stayed ahead of him the whole way, and mostly kept my HR below 70%. During the first 4 miles, I stayed way below 70%, except when I hit two hills, the cardiac drift went up to about 149. But then instead of walking back up to my house (the hills), I decided to sprint them, and see how high my HR would go, to maybe FINALLY figure out what my MAX is.

I decided today, after my 4 mile run, that I would sprint up the hills to my house. It felt great. I ran past my house and up the hill, hoping to get my HR as high as possible. I was tired, but not that tired. The highest I saw it was 176, and though I was exhausted, I 'think' I could have gone further, so I don't think I reached my MAX. But back in 2005, 174 was my max, so.... But during my race, I did see 183, so it's more likely that my MAX is higher than 174.

I will attempt to do this again, run my run, and then sprint up the hill. I'm not sure how big the hill is, but my Garmin is telling me the hill going up Harrison is a grade of 31 feet, and the hill going up Taylor is a grade of 25 feet. Not sure as elevation and grade are Greek to me:) LOL Will have to ask Johnny about this. But again, I didn't run to complete exhaustion, so I don't think I hit my MAX at 176.

Time: 49:28

Distance: 4.33 miles

AVG Pace: 11:26

Calories: 339

AVG HR 135 Cardia Drift: 154

My splits were as follows:

Mile 1: 11:33 AVG HR: 130 Cardia Drift: 145

Mile 2: 12:03 AVG HR: 132 Cardia Drift: 141

Mile 3: 11:28 AVG HR: 136 Cardia Drift: 152

Mile 4: 10:46 AVG HR: 144 Cardia Drift: 154

.33: 3:34 AVG HR: 156 Cardia Drift: 176 (pretty close to my Max, but I did see 183 during my race, as at this point my legs gave out but my HR still felt strong. go figure:(

Overall GREAT run today. I'm amazed that I don't have any leftover aches from my race this past Sunday, as I RAN that race, and have never run that fast before. Guess my body is in much better shape than I thought:)!!