Week 6: When The Heart Falls In Line


Mike Finch |

My wedding is over and it’s all go for the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon thanks to Coach Mo.

 

Cederberg in the Wolfberg  Cracks (Image by Oliver Munnik)
Cederberg in the Wolfberg Cracks (Image by Oliver Munnik)

With life getting back to normal – as I don’t have our wedding consuming my thoughts 24/7 anymore – it has suddenly and quite drastically dawned on me that I have three or four weeks left leading into the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon. In response, my training load has been cranked up a notch over the last 10 days!

After wrapping up our wedding day in Tulbagh, we made our way to the Cederberg, which provided me with the perfect opportunity to slowly start ticking the legs over again. Our mini-moon was spent doing what we love doing most: being outdoors. For Oli (my brand new husband!), that’s cycling, so I jumped back onto my trusty steed and turned the cranks ‘slowly’ to start my engine again.

The following day we hiked a trail that has been on my bucket list for some time: the iconic Wolfberg Cracks and Wolfberg Arch. It was basically three days of active cross-training and low-impact recovery, keeping my overall heart rate at an easy 135-140bpm during those activities; but it was also what my body was demanding at the time. I don’t think I could have pushed any harder, even if I’d wanted to.

After three nights, we headed back to Cape Town, and I got involved with the PUFfeR run (‘Running in heaven – feeling like hell’) activities over the weekend – I supported a friend, Pete-The-Heat Calitz, in the last 10km of his journey to the finish line. He’s a fast guy, so I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t manage to hold his pace for the last stretch home; but luckily my legs were feeling fresh, and I held his pace surprisingly easily – almost too easily, I was thinking to myself, as I was skipping and talking along Signal Hill.

Supporting Pete-The-Heat Calitz. Image by Anneke Hanekom
Supporting Pete-The-Heat Calitz. Image by Anneke Hanekom

I wasn’t paying much attention or checking my heart-rate monitor that day, because it wasn’t my run to control; but subsequently I’ve run the numbers, and the HRM indicates my heart rate was once again at a very comfortable average of 155bpm, which is just outside my recovery zone. This was even with the pace significantly increased from what I’d been doing a few days before in the Cederberg.

So I started investigating my profile on the flow.polar.com site, for all my activities. What I’ve noticed over the last week of running is that my heart rate is starting to fall in line with the pace target zones set out for me by coach Mo. Whereas last month, my heart rate was usually much higher than it should have been, in my target threshold zones. I’m starting to see a significant change – and a good change, at that!

Previously, I was running 5:30min/km, and on average my HR was somewhere between 165 and 175bpm. On Saturday I was running that exact same pace, and my HR was under 165bpm on average. This is how heart-rate training works – and if done correctly, it improves efficiency! This will be golden for the Cape Town Marathon, because my endurance is improving. I will be able to hold a faster pace over an extended period of time.

It turns out that being a little directionless with my running over the last three weeks has had a benefit, and I’ve recovered well from the ordeal that was the Hout Bay Ultra. However, Coach Mo has stepped in, and I’ve received an updated plan of action for my training over the next month, to keep me on track so I can continue improving in the lead-up to the Cape Town Marathon. I know it’s important that I stick to the plan, to gain the maximum benefit from the training set out for me. This weekend will be a big one, including two back-to-back 20km runs in which I need to keep my heart rate at nothing above 160bpm. Hopefully, next week I’ll be able to report back on some more improvements.

Alana and Oliver Munnik on their Wedding Day. Image by Peter Calitz
Alana and Oliver Munnik on their Wedding Day. Image by Peter Calitz

On another note: It’s UTMB week in Chamonix, France. Keeping track of the build-up from the sidelines is giving me a massive morale boost and motivation to head back there next year and give that iconic race another go. A significant difference in my preparation would be that I would use HR training to improve my time over the 172km.

Alana Doyle is a committed trail and road runner and has completed events like the famed 160km UTMB (Ultra Trail Mont Blanc) run in France. This year her target events include the Hout Bay Challenge Trail Run and the Sanlam Cape Town marathon.

Follow Alana’s running journey here:

Week 1: Running Hard Is Easy

Week 2: My First Win… But at What Cost?

Week 3: When The Heart Says Go, But The Body Says No

Week 4: Life’s Curveballs

Week 5: The Race of your Life

Learn more from Polar about monitoring your running cadence.

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