My new life of being coached has kept me very busy! I am really starting to love it and it is becoming more routine, all the pieces falling into place. Remember, prior to this I had zero structure to my workouts, I just did them when it was sunny.

Saturday, Sonja had me do a MAF (Maximum Aerobic Fitness) Test. The instructions were simple enough, run 6 miles on the track at a Heart Rate of 150-155.

I rode my bike down to the East River Track and thought that 10 miles in traffic at Mach 3 on a bike was sufficient warm-up. It was not. My HR was still really low when I started running, very strange.

That’s totally my thumb in the photo. Did I mention I am a professional photographer for a living…

I changed and started my 150-155 HR run, thinking it would be easy. It was actually quite difficult because 150-155 HR for me means roughly an 8 minute mile. I had to hold back and really keep my pace steady, which is a challenge for me. The other frustrating part of it all is my ego I suppose. I am very competitive, and I had people passing me left and right all morning! I wanted so bad to blast ahead and pretend race them but I couldn’t!

I kept to the plan and finished my test. Below are my splits at 150-155 HR.

1= 8:07
2= 7:56
3= 7:52
4= 7:57
5= 7:49
6= 7:55

I had to do 2 800’s right after and the amazing thing is that my HR dropped to 143! Wild stuff. I don’t quite understand what it all means but I have a lot of faith in Sonja and her training plan.

Sunday I ran with Abbe down the East Side path and we eventually made our way to Claire’s Beer Run!