A.R.T and my graphs

Not that my graphs aren't ART as in Picasso ART, but Active Release Technique. I forgot to blog about my ART appointment on Monday (thanks Sonya). He did more of the same thing (electric stimulation, massages and stretching) and I think it's helping, but I'm not sure. I used to get knee pain when I did squats; it doesn't hurt so much anymore, but now I have some discomfort on the inside of my knee when before it used to be on the outside. Also, when I run, I don't get pain in my knee, but it's a general soreness in some of my quads which could be a sign that the "adhesions" have loosened up and are allowing my muscles to work. My next appointment is next Thursday.

Regarding my graphs, I've always assumed that they were easy to read, but based on a recent comment from Bridgette maybe not. Anyways here's my brief tutorial based on the 10 miler I did on Thursday.


The red line with the painted white background is the HR which is read using the scale on the left. The blue line is my speed with the blue scale that runs down the right side. The brownish line near the bottom shows the change in altitude which is read with the brown scale also on the right. Time through the run is read on the bottom. The pinkish line between the HR and the speed lines is the temperature in degrees C. The numbers at the bottom that increase to 11 are lap times. These generally coincide with miles, though if I'm doing intervals, they are much shorter. The section on cursor values (at the bottom left) gives me the instantaneous information at any given time point when I click on the graph. The box in the lower right shows the total time spend ascending, descending and time on flat ground. The number just below the lap 5 is my average HR over the entire run and the rainbowish green, yellow and red backgrounds are actually my HR target zones. Green is recovery, yellow is General Aerobic and red is basically I'm going too fast. It allows me to see at a glance what zones I was in.

Hope that makes everything clear as mud.