Workout 11: 3-Miler

I tried today's workout in Recovery Zone (RZ), which is bascially anything below the lower limit of Z1. I thought I could use a bit of a break. Z1 for me is about 151-166, so I was barely out of Z1. I ended up with 3 miles at 11:30 average pace and 150 avg HR. If I'm not mistaken, as recently as Jan 22, I did 3 miles with an avg pace of 11:26 and avg HR of 163 on the same route. That's two weeks ago to the day - that's progress!

Let's compare!
Jan 22:
Mile Pace Avg Max
1- 11:04 161 172
2- 11:37 163 168
3- 11:40 165 177

Today:
Mile Pace Avg Max
1- 11:26 147 154
2- 11:32 151 156
3- 11:32 152 161 (big hill)

Anyone that says base training is useless obviously has never tried it consistently. I can say that because 2 weeks ago, I did not believe in the benefits as opposed to other techniques. I can honestly say that I've not seen this level of improvement in two weeks with any other technique I've tried though. This would include structured, long intervals at lactate threshhold followed by short recovery times, short intervals at VO2 max followed by longer recoveries, or just running my ass off every time I went out. I also have found in the past that any of these techniques have either put me in an overtraining state or have gotten me injured. I haven't entered overtraining mode yet and don't foresee it because of the level of effort. Injuries are there, but more nagging. My foot is essentially fine now but my back continues to hurt quite a bit.

Unfortunately, I don't think all of my progress was pure cardiovascular fitness improvement though. I have made some definite advances in my running economy. I've lost weight (about 4 lbs to date), I've worked on technique and minimizing wasted energy (arm movements), and finally I've been working heavily on my running cadence. I still haven't gotten cadence to the point that don't have to think about it, but I have some time.

Seeing this amount of progress in two weeks is definitely a big boost though!