No more excuses! After yesterdays run, I realized that I have lost most of my running base which ultimately means my aerobic capacity. I have been doing other fitness exercises, but not enough aerobic exercise to stay in prime running form. Although the other fitness exercises help in cross training muscles and is definitely a good thing, I was not engaging in enough aerobic exercises to keep up my target heart rate. After about 3 miles into the run I was looking for the coffee shop and hoping to stop there before completing our 5 mile run. So glad my tried and true running buddy was game for a quick java break, she wasn't panting at all but could probably recognize my struggles.
No matter what your mileage or exercise goals are you should be able to identify aerobic fitness by being able to keep a comfortable pace and still be able to talk. Although it was a great run, I realize by running very little the last month it has seriously affected my goal which is to keep a base of being able to run a half marathon at any time. Unfortunately it is time to start over. All those hard earned miles just gone by not staying devoted. I know that women start to lose muscle mass and aerobic fitness after one week, men by comparison take about two weeks to feel the effects and loss of fitness. The reason being is that we have less muscle mass to begin with, so we lose it much quicker.
