When I bought my Polar RS200 heart rate monitor, it came with all kinds of fancy features. Many I don’t use. Some I use, but not that often. One that I have played with on occasion is the Polar Fitness Test which figures out my “Ownindex”. I haven’t done it for a while, and decided to try it last night. I am not sure exactly how it works. I think it figures out how much your heart rate fluctuates, and how fast it goes from faster to slower or something like that.
Basically, I just strapped the chest strap on, and laid down on the bed. I rested for a minute, then I started the test. I think I was actually supposed to lay down for a few minutes before starting the test, but maybe next time. The test took a few minutes, maybe even 5 or more minutes. Then it popped of a number. It said my OwnIndex was 50, and that my fitness level was “very good”. I know there was a higher level than very good. So I looked it up. For my age grough 40-44 (I am currently 43), an OwnIndex of 47-51 is very good. Great than 51 would put me in the elite fitness group! Wow! So close!!!!! Well, I am going to continue my running and worrking out. In a little over a year I will be 45. At 45, an OwnIndex greater than 48 would be elite! I am right on the cusp of eliteness! I gotta keep working at it!
I was trying to figure out how long it would take me to run the Damn Wakely Dam Ultra. It 32.6 miles and I have never done anything like it. I wasn’t even sure how I should pace myself.
I came up with a plan and a goal. I am going to treat the Wakely Dam like a training run with a lot of walking thrown in. I was scheduled to run 19 miles at 9:30 pace that day. So I will try to do that, and walk the remainder at a more relaxing pace. I can walk around 15:00 pace, but I will give my self some room and estimate a 20:00 walking pace. This will also give me time to replenish my water, take pictures, get lost, etc. The 15:00 pace is also on flat, and hills will be slower. I want to walk the uphills, and run the flats and down hills. I figure I can run 3 minutes and walk 2 minutes for the duration, running a little longer after walking a long hill, etc.
19 miles @ 9:30 pace = 181 minutes
13.6 miles @ 20:00 pace = 272 minutes
181 minutes + 272 minutes = 453 minutes or 7 hours and 33 minutes.
I am guessing I could go faster, but I have other runs (and a 100 mile bike ride) coming up in the months ahead.
I am estimating a 7 hour 30 minute time.
My 32.6 mile extreme trail ultramarathon is only 2 weeks away. There are no water stops or aid stations. I bought a 100oz Camelbak Mule for the ultra. I took it out for a test run a couple weeks ago and I didn’t like the feel of it. It felt weird like it was adding to my up, and adding to my down. I felt like it would suck my energy over the 32 miles. And I didn’t like sucking through the tube much. I starting exploring other options.
For all of my runs so far I have worn a fanny pack. For som training runs I have thrown a bottle or two of water into the fanny pack. So I decided to look into a double water bottle fanny packs. One suggestion on the ultra’s website was a North Face Mountain Bike Lumbar. I found the current model online for about $50, for older models for slightly less than $40. But if I ordered one online, I might not get it in time for my ultra. And I wanted to try it out during a test run or two to see if I would like it or not. I looked around the local sporting goods stores for the North Face, but none of them had it. I found some cheap looking fanny packs at one sporting goods store. I decided to keep looking. Then at another sporting goods store I found a Marmot Excursion for $40. It would hold a couple 1 quart bottles. It seemed to have most of the features of the North Face, so I bought it. It also had storage space which I will need to carry some food, map, etc, as well as some emergency supplies.
I was scheduled for a 30 minute run last night so I decided to try it out. The fanny pack didn’t come with water bottles. So I used a couople 16oz bottles of water (generic bottled water). I strapped the thing on and ran my 30 minutes on the treadmill. It felt much better than the Camelbak. True, I only had about a third of the water, but the weight was more on my hips. I am debating about using the 16 oz bottles, or buying some 32 oz Nalgene bottles.
But after last night’s run, I am confident that the water bottle fanny pack is the right way to go.