The SMH 1/2 was fun, tuff but fun and now that I have had time to sit back and reflect a little I don’t think I was really ready to run it. Having said that I do believe it was good thing for the simple reason that it gave me something to aim for, a goal to which I could work towards. If I had not done the 1/2 then I would have never progressed as fare as I have and maybe have even given up the whole running game. As I struggled through my last run before the 1/2 I decided that after the race I needed focus more on my base running fitness, which at the time meant shorter, but more frequent runs. All my training beforehand had been about getting the distance in the legs and making it past the 11km 75min cut off and that was all done through no pain no gain philosophy which ultimately leads to injury and grief.

So it is time for a change so I can develop my base or core system and after reading this article on heart rate training I have decided to base my training on a target heart rate zone of 75-85% of HRmax, with an aim of an 80% average. Previously I was running at 92-95%, right on the lactic acid threshold