It is amusing. This morning I thought about skipping the 6am run when I woke at 4am. Within ten minutes I decided to suit up and go anyway. I felt cold when I stepped out of the car, but I also felt fatigue.
I do not think that the fatigue came from my eight kilometre walk yesterday afternoon. I suspect that it originated in the interval training run I did on Monday. Running, with a group, is usually slow and relaxed, once you achieve a certain level.
The issue comes from interval training and strength training exercises. They fatigue muscles before you’re running, and sports watches such as Garmin and Coros don’t see the strength training. For Strava, Garmin and Coros I am losing fitness.
Months ago, when I was running further and further, up to 21km, my fitness was improving consistently. Now, after interval training, and running with groups I see a clear stagnation.
When I was cycling my fitness would shoot up as a result of group rides but with interval training I don’t see a benefit and I think it’s due to a single reason. I hit the wall, and then I slow down. My fitness is built off of long, hard rides.
Interval training might be strenuous, but it doesn’t push me like cycling up the Jura once or twice per week. It doesn’t push the cardiovascular system for extended periods like my cycling habit did.
I don’t want to do pyramid intervals because that’s now how nature is. I think that to some degree fartlek is better, because it is focused on the natural environment rather than time or distance, and cycling is all about long steady climbs, sudden steep gradients, and then coasting down hill, before pushing again.
During the intervals on Monday I also suspected dehydration. I suspected that if I had remembered to get water I would have done better in the second interval.
I am frustrated by the hypothetical Garmin, Coros and Strava data that says my fitness is declining, rather than climbing. That’s theory, and my time over distance is improving. I am getting faster.
This morning I was frustrated that my legs felt heavy for the entire run. Part of it is due to waking early. Sometimes the body needs more sleep. Sometimes, it’s because the Monday session fatigues, rather than builds.
I spent ninety percent of this run in aerobic endurance so it was perfect. If my legs had been less heavy then this morning would have been a good session. I believe that Monday’s fatigue affected today’s run.
Rationally I should give up the run that requires waking at 4am, but in practice I think it’s the evening sessions when I would usually eat dinner that are making me suffer, especially with speed work.
After further time spent looking at the data I noticed that what Coros said is zone two is considered threshold by Garmin, so today’s run was a threshold run, with heavy legs.
Monday I was tempted to use zones, rather than pace. With pace, you want to be equal to others. With HR zone you’re either in the right zone or you’re not. This is something I could experiment with, in future.
Now, with heavy legs, I will go for another social run in less than two hours.
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