If you follow my blog then you are likely aware of the fact that I do a lot of bitching about how my per km pace has slipped a lot in the past few years. I don't know exactly why this is but for whatever reason, I cannot return to form on my near 6 mins per km pace that I used to have. It doesn't seem to matter how much practice I get or how often I go running, my pace just keeps slipping. I try to blame it on a number of things such as the fact that I focus primarily on weight training and this keep me kind of bulked up and therefore slower when I run.
Whatever the reason is, I simply cannot achieve anything near 6 mins per km unless I only run a couple of k's. My idea behind all cardio is to achieve an elevated heart rate for around an hour or more so for me to attempt to get 6 min kilometers would definitely result in me not being able to do very many of them.
I think I may have actually found my pace that I can sustain for a long period of time though.
This jog was a lot of slowing down to a walk but always keeping my heart rate up. Now I know that nobody out there is going to be impressed with a near 9 minute per km pace but here is the kicker. I don't mind doing this sort of pace and I could do it for much longer than I did. I only stopped because I was in danger of being late for some plans I had made.
As usual, I started out poorly and too quickly, but I figured out my stride as the km's went on.
Basically my routine works like this. I will jog for a pretty quick pace (to me) for 500 meters or so, and then I will walk 250 although at a pace that still keeps my heart rate up. Then I repeat the cycle continuously. This would be easier to track if I was on an actual track, but I find that sort of running to be boring. Therefore I just listen to my body and if I start to hurt or struggle for breath, I slow down.
I am not training for anything in particular, I am just trying to maintain some level of physical fitness. So even though it pains me to give up on chasing 6 or even 7 minute kms, I am far more interested in just getting an hour of cardio in and not hating doing it. I think I have managed that.