Skip to main content

Running 80/20 + Couch to 5k

Morning of 5/16/23

In my past 2 weeks of new experiences running, or previous experiences coming back to light, has led me to start watching some videos on YouTube and reading some running articles. They have been about the 80/20 training method. I am by no means an expert after having seen a few videos and read a little about it. This made sense to me though, the gist of it is you do 80% of your training in Zone 2 of your heart rate and 20% in Zones 3 - 5. Zone 2 is roughly between 75% - 80% of your max heart rate and is the fat burning zone. Max heart rate is 220 subtract your age according the the CDC. So for me at age 42, my max heart rate is 178 and my Zone 2 heart rate it roughly between 133 - 143. 

After looking at my heart rate during my runs I saw that my heart rate was between 133 - 143 during a 0:15:00 - 0:16:00 minute mile. Which is slower than I have been running when it's time to run during my workout. So I am going to make that adjustment this week and see how I feel. My weekly runs will consist of 20% of my total minutes running for the week being in Zones 3-5. I will do those minutes during my Saturday morning running.

I am making this change to try it out, I think it will help. Since my runs are all roughly the same length for each week, it will also provide a little bit of a variety. So today is easy day 1.

Post Run Evening of 5/16/23

The run didn't happen. I had my running clothes in the dryer and the dryer failed to dry the clothes by the time.  Having the right clothes on for running is a must for me. By the time they were dry I wasn't in the mindset to run. Which now that I think about it means I should have ran. I will be running tomorrow during lunch.

Post Run Afternoon of 5/17/23

My run was 30 minutes today. By sticking between 15:00 - 16:00 minutes I wasn't completely out of gas by the last leg of the run. During my running portions I was at about a 15:30 - 15:45 mile. My average heart rate was 147, so higher than I want it to be, but the high was lower than in previous outings. So I stayed closer to 147 for the whole run. I'm thinking that my pace for my next run should be closer to a 16:00 mile to dial in on my target heart rate. So first run of 80/20 went well and I'll keep the experiment going.

The draw back to running in the middle of the day when it's 79 degrees outside is that I won't stop sweating for a while. I didn't get a drink until the 30 minute mark, but didn't feel dehydrated at all either. I will need to watch fluid consumption more as it gets hotter outside.

Thanks for reading.

-Riley

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No Run Today

Today was impacted by a late night last night and no baby sitter this morning. So I didn't make it out to run. I will be doing a 4 run week next week to make up for it. So run Monday, Tuesday, Strength training Wednesday, run Thursday, and run Saturday. Thanks for reading. -Riley
Post a Comment
Read more

12-2-13 Mental Health Run

Today was one of those runs that I needed to de-junk my brain. The junk builds up almost always when I have a critique at school that doesn't go in the slightest bit favorable. I am frustrated with my art right now. And having a marathon this Saturday doesn't bode well for time. Next week I have 3 big assignments due... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Well onto my run recap. It was really short. I counted my cadence, which is around 160 at my long distance running speed. Apparently the ideal is 180. The ideal meaning that the body runs at that speed the best (or something like that). I figured it out by counting the strikes of my right foot over a minute. When I pushed myself to 180 I was going at the pace I did for my run last Thursday. It took the run today to get my head in order. I will be able to keep things in order upstairs a little better. Well thanks for reading, -Riley
2 comments
Read more

More in the Tank

Today I did not want to get out and put in my time. I intended on doing my 20% workout today but ended up just doing my regularly scheduled workout. I did 5 sets of 3 minutes of running and 2 minutes of walking. I could keep my heart rate down more which was excellent, and I still finished with the same distance as the past couple of runs. As I finished my time, I realized I had it in me to go further. But I knew my 30 minutes was up and it was time to stop and go and use the restroom. I pondered having some energy left in the tank for a bit and decided it's better to have that than be completely spent on my day off where I need to get some homework done.  I did experience what I used to when I ran years ago, the first mile sucked. I got to the 3/4 mile point and almost went home. My ankles hurt, my legs hurt, and I was tired. But I decided to keep going, and I'm glad I did. Today's run feels good now. It was shortly after the 3/4 mile mark that things started to feel bette
Post a Comment
Read more