... a lot of sweat and some small pain, not far from home
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Gottfried’s fitness training at M-Fit in Ann Arbor ... a lot of sweat and some small pain, not far from home |
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I've started running around the "Big Block" again, in SW Ann Arbor, in early 2002, . . . The graph and inset map below illustrate data from my Polar™ NV Heart Rate Monitor and Garmin GPS-III instrumented run.  The GPS recorded an elapsed time of 22 minutes 44 seconds in the file 2002.02.10.1313.ddd below:
200202101313; run around large block, south west Ann Arbor, MI
42.2632503, -83.7636826, 2002, 2,10,13,13,42
42.2632422, -83.7637711, 2002, 2,10,13,13,48
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42.2633094, -83.7635707, 2002, 2,10,13,36,21
42.2633040, -83.7634902, 2002, 2,10,13,36,26
Only the first three and last two lines (of 119) are shown; these represent the start and finish in the driveway of my home. The distance covered in running the "Big Block" was measured from an average of previous runs and checked with the scale on the USGS 7.5 minute Topographic Sheet. It is 2.4 miles. . . . after restarting fitness training at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube, SW Ann Arbor, in late December, 2001 |
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Some time ago I decided to restart my fitness program at the U of M M-Fit facility located not far from where I live. This is the third year that I purchased a one year membership in the club. Some earlier efforts at documenting my fitness training is shown in the Concept 2 Rower page and in some early M-Fit photos. The target for my leisurely program is to be ready for the traditional end of May "Dexter - Ann Arbor" run. I ran the 25 km 'Half Marathon' distance of that race in 1978, 1979 and 1980. More recently, 2000 and 2001, I participated in the 10 km distance. To keep track of my performance I record my heartbeat rate using a Polar™ NV Heart Rate Monitor I purchased in late 1999. Not only does this device permit me to keep an eye on the heart's performance in real time, it also stores the heartbeat rate information for subsequent transfer to a personal computer. There the information may be analyzed or graphed out. |
heart rate in beats per minute, during a treadmill run . . .
. . . collected with a Polar™ NV heart rate monitor.
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The graph above may be interpreted as follows: The slope of the walkway is set to 1.0 and the speed to 4.0 mph as I begin the exercise run. At the start of the data collection session my heart rate is about 120 bpm. This heart rate is maintained for around 5 minutes as I warm up at a walking pace of 4.1 mph. At the 5 minute point I advance the belt speed to 5.2 mph. At some point along the way I decide on the length of the exercise jog/run. Three weeks into my conditioning program the duration of the exercise is (about 45 min.) determined by not remaining more than about a quarter hour with the heart rate consistently over 160 bpm. As the aerobic conditioning improves, I shall lengthen the exercise period to about an hour to 70 minutes, at the current speed (5.2 mph) and load (slope: 1.0). Once I'm comfortable with that regime (i.e., the pain is tolerable and not that great), I shall begin to increase the belt speed by small amounts, up to 6.1 mph. That rate is my target for the 10 km part of the "Dexter - Ann Arbor" run. At the end of the above graph (55 - 60 min.) there is a brief excursion or 'spike' into the anaerobic region when the tread way speed was increased from the 'recovery' 4.1 mph to the briefly maintainable 8.0 mph rate. From past experience I know that I can sprint at this speed for up to two minutes without sending my heart rate too high (or breaking a leg bone). Improving my performance in this area is secondary to the endurance aim outlined above. |
The graph below illustrates an 'interval' run in a pattern suggested by one of the M-Fit trainers, Sarah Terrell:
heart rate in beats per minute, during a treadmill run . . .
 . . . collected with a Polar™ NV heart rate monitor. |
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This exercise consists of alternating one minute long 6.7 mph segments and four minute long 4.1 mph segments. The trainer had originally suggested two minutes at 6.5 mph alternating with two minutes at 4.5 mph. That regime was more challenging than I could perform in mid December for more than three or four cycles. I subsequently made the small ameliorating changes which permitted me to also 'endure' for an hour. In January 2002 I shall increase the 6.7 mph segment to 90 seconds and decrease the 4.1 mph segment to 3.5 minutes, maintaining the same speed and tread way slope. |
... still considerable work to be done here.