Just a Run

My usual 8 km run course on the outskirts of Hondo.

Light rain today from morning on, so just a quick run today, then sponshorship planning, etc.  All kinds of requests are pouring in so we have to act on them soon.  Also, a glider arrived in the mail today, for me to try!  Can't wait to fly it; probably the next chance is Saturday.

As for the run, with fatigue accumulated in my legs from a solid week of hard exercise, I did not expect anything great, but my Garmin Fenix3HR watch pushed me once again to exceed my expectations with its great 'Race an Activity' feature where you virtually race your own (or someone else's) previous performance, and the watch gives you a real-time progress data.  It's amazing how well this psychology works, since I've exceeded my previous performance every time, and by quite a lot!

Here's a chart of some of my runs on this course, using data collected by the Fenix3:

Date    Race Time  Avg. Heart Rate  Avg. Cadence  Avg. Stride Length  Calories
11/10  39:17           148                     178                   1.14                         493
10/29  39:38           162                     174                   1.16                         552
09/10  41:10           150                     172                   1.13                         491
08/24  44:35           153                     165                   1.09                         566

If we trust the data is accurate, we must conclude that my body is quickly becoming more efficient, and fatigue has little role in spite of the amount of exercise I am piling on.  For example the 10/29 run had my heart rate absolutely maxed out, whereas this time a much more comfortable heart rate nevertheless resulted in a faster run, a faster cadence, and yet fewer calories spent. Actually, it's quite comparable to the 9/10 run except for the nearly 2 minutes of time saved!