re: Official Running Log/Marathon Training Thread

Good to hear about the medical stuff.

You could probably slow your easy runs down to 9:30 to 10:00 pace IMO. It will feel very slow to you after running everything fast, but that is the only way to build aerobic fitness and to recover between more intense workouts. Running everything fast is fine if the goal is to race distances of a mile or less and limit weekly volume to less than 20 mpw, but for distance running the bulk of the volume should be easy. Easy will be very slow at first but will increase over time. If your long term goal is to race a marathon, taking the time to build a solid aerobic base is well worth the time and patience.

Also, if you have never done a proper max heart rate measurement, you should do one. Replace one of your speed work days with this test:

1) Warmup for a mile or two at an easy pace

2) Run a mile at tempo pace (moderately hard pace)

3) Run a hard effort for 400 meters, increasing your pace every 100 meters or so until you are at max effort for the last 100 meters.

4) Your Max HR should be displayed in your uploaded workout on connect or strava. This will be your true max HR or very close to it.

If your max HR is like 220 or something, then 150-160 could very well be your target HR at recovery to easy pace. That would be pretty rare, but it is possible.