x-country training

04/22/08

Ran x-country at Pineland . My plan was to run a 10K (double loop of the 5k course)
The first loop I wanted to keep the heart rate below 150 and then pick it up on the second loop to 160 and create a negative split.

The course was pretty dry with only a few wet and deep muddy spots. I could negotiate arround most of the crap. The Northface trail runners were perfect and my feet didn't get wet like Twinbrook the other day.

The first loop felt very easy and my heart rate average was 145 with the peak at 152. It was time consuming to monitor the heart rate and keep it that low. It made a little difficult to settle in to a pace.

I picked it up and kicked at the end of the first 5k then stopped to suck down some electrolites.
It actually felt good to pick it up in the second loop though I did walk one hill to keep the Heart rate to the range I wanted.

The second loop heart rate averaged 153 with a max of 165. The pace felt much more comfortable though I was quite winded. I settled in much better and didn't seem to have to monitor my watch quite as much. I felt great and had a decent kick at the end of this loop.

The Garmen put me at 6.64 which could be a little off as I lost signal a couple times in the woods. The nike registered 7.95 miles but that is not acurate either because my stride was much shorter than normal with the slower pace.

I am calling it 6.95 as I ran the 5k loop with an extra .2 to .3 thrown in. My splits were 9:46, 9:39, 9:16 (3.4 kick @7:36) 9:17, 9:42, 8:51, 7:27 end kick. A finish time of 1:08:35 puts my overall pace for the run at 9:52. The pace is slower than the splits because I stopped after the first loop and wasted a minute or so.

I had planned to run the 25K around 9:30 pace (about 1.5 minute per mile slower than road running a 25K) but after this run of less than half the distance, I think I might have to regroup that thinking and shoot for a little slower pace. Pineland is definately a much tougher course than Twinbrooks.