What's so Easy about an Easy Day?

Today was an "easy" day though I can't say that it was all that easy. I used to take an "easy" day quite literally, but that's not actually what an it is supposed to be. An easy day means doing a workout at around 70% of maximum heart rate--pretty much the same as the long distance day. As a review, here is my heart rate table:

Workout          % of MHR     Heart Rate
Easy Distance       70            153
Tempo/Interval      85            172
Economy             90            178
VO2 Max             95            185

Looking back over the past few weeks it looks like I do the daily three mile walk at about the same pace as the long walk. I often have a better pace on my long day than the weekday easy day. For example, here are today's times:

Mile 1 -- 12:06
Mile 2 -- 12:55
Mile 3 -- 12:59
Average - 12:40
Total --- 38:02

Quite a difference from yesterday's 10:55 mile and it is was slower than Sunday's eight mile walk yet it was feeling like a good effort. In addition, the heart rate monitor was showing that I was around 70% of maximum heart rate.

Guess there are up days and down days and you can't keep making new personal records day after day.

We scheduled the long day for tomorrow--20 miles. However, there is heavy rain in the forecast and we can't postpone it until Sunday because we're taking part in the annual L.A. AIDS Walk. I would racewalk the AIDS Walk, but it doesn't seem appropriate.