164!

That was my heart rate for the majority of my run today. That corresponded to an average pace of 7:54 min/mile for 10 miles. I noticed that if I ran too fast, my heart rate elevated to 170 and I felt uncomfortable so I actually slowed down my pace until my heart rate returned to 160-164. If my heart dropped below 160 my pace was too slow so I had to speed up. It really was an interesting game to see where my heart rate needs to be in order to keep my pace.

Mile 5 and mile 8 were the only miles where my average pace was slightly higher than what I needed for my race (8:01 and 8:02 respectively). My fastest average mile was 7:45.

Tomorrow will be a slightly slower pace and less distance as well, probably 5 miles. With a 6 hour race coming up on Saturday, I have to be careful not too push myself too hard.