With the heat and how the last few races have been affected I completely changed strategy tonight and ran only on heart rate set the watch up so I couldn’t see pace at all and the race goal was to finish not feeling awful. Had a heart rate ceiling of 184 in the first 3k and if I felt good I could go up a bit, I did so went to 187 and still felt good.
Time looks to be 21:46 so not a pb but 30 seconds off in 26 degrees I am pleased. Felt good at the end and there is definitely more pace in me when it gets cooler. Managed a sprint finish and passed a few people on the finishing straight. I probably could have pushed more rpe felt around a 7 but then I might have blown up in my traditional manner.
I have also started doing breath work and sleeping much better and felt less constrained by breathing today as this is a real problem for me in summer so this could be an exciting change in the routine.
WU strides and CD all a little short due to conditions
Love this. Really sensible approach and sounds like you ran a strong and enjoyable race. HR still suggests you were working hard though. For my 10k Sunday I accidentally forgot to turn off Zone 2 HR alerts. But had my watch connected to my phone and headphones so the notifications were coming via them (bone conducting of course). Whilst at first this was annoying (notifications were still quite infrequent, no more than every 3 mins I would say) it was invaluable information, especially around km7-8 when it was getting tough, but I knew my HR was well below my max and that I had plenty more in the tank. Like you, the question was could I have pushed more? Perhaps, but in that heat the line is such a fine one. This feels like a really good strategy in these type of conditions, and so pleased you are noticing improvements in other areas too. I’m confident your fitness is in a much better place than race results have suggested to this point. But I think when we reach the better conditions then the real rewards will follow. Great work Laura.
Coach Simon 🍊
