Start of a new era? (Read 667 times)

I have only been running regularly since January, I ran my first (and only) Half Marathon at the end of March, and originally intended it to be a one-off experience. But I got bitten, and decided a couple of days after my race that I would continue running. I have no plans to run another race until that same race at the end of March next year. This is partly due to the fact that I work every Sunday and most races over here seem to take place on that day. The other reason is that I want to feel completely prepared for the next time I race, and having read the articles on here it seems that time spent putting miles in the bank is time well spent. Since April I have been doing a mixture of treadmill and road runs. I use the treadmill during my lunchtimes from work, as my time in the evenings is limited, as my wife works 3 evenings per week and we have children. Most of my treadmill workouts have been pretty near flat out runs (for me!!) of 4-6 miles, my outdoor runs range from 4.5m - 13 miles at an easier pace. I recently read the article that Trent linked to by Hadd, which got me thinking that I wasn't necessarily doing things correctly. So I have purchased a HRM (Polar FS3C) - only a relatively cheap model, and this lunchtime will be giving it a go for the first time. I tried the chest strap on last night, and it feels rather uncomfortable, but i suppose I will get used to it. I also realise that is going to be strange running at 10kph (or maybe less) on the treadmill than my usual 12kph, but appreciate that in time I will benefit - maybe in as little as within 4-6 weeks. Will post up later how I got on!!

Hey Plodder, I'm sure you will get used to the chest strap soon enough. It's a bit uncomfortable and geeky feeling at first, but I got used to it soon enough. You can find a lot more information on low heart rate training in the Low HR Training Group.