Keeping it up

I had a good Thursday night run with VanRun. I was happy to see that I could pick up the pace and sit around the 4:30/km pace. I was actually running a few seconds slower than that, but I was satisfied because I did not feel stressed at that pace. I was having to make a conscious effort to keep the pace up, and I know I let out a couple of grunts, but I was still able to hold a conversation. Interestingly, my heart rate was quite high for the whole thing -- all of it over 170 and quite a bit in the 180s. When I was running my 4:40/km 15 km attempt, I was running a bit slower and my heart rate was lower (all at a steady 175/176) but it felt harder. And though my steady 15 km at 4:46-4:53 never got over a heart rate of 172, it felt harder.

Of course, this was a shorter run (or at least the fast part was) but I would have expected a higher heart rate to feel harder, no matter what. I guess that is not the case.

I was going to run today, but Christmas shopping got in the way. I did go to yoga, and got my feet down in downward dog.