The winner often is the one who slows down the least.

I went the bookstore this week and browsed the running books.   Hal Higdon's book entitled "Run Fast" caught my eye so I leafed through the pages.  

A line jumped out at me: 

"The winner often is the one who slows down the least." 

I've been doing a hilly 9 1/4 mile path lately as my long run.  (for anyone who runs near Eastwood Lake in Chapel Hill, this route hits those steep hills on Tadley Dr and Kenmore Rd!) 

Last time, I wore my HR monitor and tried to stay in Zone 2.  I struggled with my heart rate going down too much up and down hills.  I also notice that my HR went down in the 2nd half of my run, and I had a hard time staying in Zone 2.  I clocked around 1:50 last week, with an average heart rate of 142.

Today, I went on this same run.   Every time I felt myself starting to slow down, I recited that Hal Higdon quote in my head.  It worked – I kept up a good pace the entire run.   I clocked 1:42 today.  Average heart rate of 149.

Here's an interesting article on max heart rate by Hal Higdon:

http://tinyurl.com/yu5e25