Daily Log 22 March 2011 - Tempo Run

My current running form  

This post is one day late. I need to make sure I write these things down as they happen.

After buying my new Polar RS 800 I decided to take it for a spin. I have been used to running with my Polar FT 60 and my new RS 800 takes it to a whole new level. One of the features that attracted me to the RS 800 is the ability to create custom exercises. I tried creating one for this run just to see what it can do.

So the exercise I designed is basically split up into phases as follows:


Phase 1 Warm up 15 minutes 60-69% MHR (see my post here on the importance of warming up)
Phase 2 Moderate run 10 minutes 70-79% MHR
Phase 3 Hard run 10 minutes 80-85% MHR
Phase 4 Moderate run 10 minutes 70-79% MHR
Phase 5 Warm down 15 minutes 60-69% MHR

(see here to understand about Maximum Heart Rate MHR)

The customizing feature worked brilliantly. I can basically switch off and just follow what the watch says. When it's time to allow myself to go to a higher heart rate it just beeps me to indicate a new phase. If I run at a higher heart rate than I'm supposed to it'll shout out to me. I couldn't do that with my Polar FT 60.

The data I can collect is astounding and it'll take me a few weeks before I can decipher it. But my initial understanding of my running data is as follows:

Average cadence 70
Average stride length 0.63 m
Average Heart Rate 72% MHR
Running distance 4.65km
Calories burnt 759 kcal

That's a lot of data. ThoughI don't want to be lost in data I do have to pay attention to it so that I understand where I can improve. It's immediate to me that I need to focus on my running cadence. The optimum is 80 so I just need to find on average 10 more steps per foot per minute. That's a lot of steps if you consider running for an hour.

I am a very happy camper at the moment. Nothing like a piece of gadget to brighten up the day...

About Reza Ali

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