I think it’s the watch

You’ll be proud of me: today I called my husband mid-day to say that I was tired. I was really saying “I really don’t want to do this 16 mile run today”. We haven’t slept much this week, so I really was tired… and that definitely affects my motivation to get outside. Not to mention that and the fact that it was 10 degrees with wind of 15-20 mph. Feels like -2 to -5. Great.

I ask Nate what I should do. His response… pause… “Well, you can do whatever you’d like”. Ha!

Sooo… I get myself out the door. I’m determined to be determined about this whole running thing now. I look a little funny — I lost my warm balaclava, so instead I’m wearing a thin one with two headbands around my neck. Against the wind, I pulled the headbands up over my nose. It actually worked great! There was space between those and the balaclava where my breath could escape, so nothing really froze solid. Looked a little funny, though, since the main headband was a bright yellow 1980s Swix one. Imagine driving down the highway seeing me, tied to a dog, chugging along. I’m sure I looked like a lunatic.

I start off down “the hill”. 6 miles to the bottom. HR around 172 or so. Back up to the top. Even though the constant up and up gets a little old after a few miles, this route is great. Little traffic, not much ice or snow on the road. The next 8 miles uphill my HR was really odd — 217, 226, 211, 209, 222, 226, 208, 211. Ok, so I know I have a high heart rate, but this is on the riduculous side of high. I’m not even running hard! When I’d stop to adjust clothing, I would notice my heart beating harder than it normally does. Weird.

I honestly think it’s my watch. After the uphill miles, it went back to around 185. Higher than ideal, but I believe readings like that. So, next workout I’m going to try to run with Nate’s Suunto HR monitor. Guess whatevere my HRs are doesn’t really matter as long as I’m going by feel, but it’d just like to know where my zones really are.