Wed PM - A whole lotta runnin' goin' on

6.8k warm up at 5 min/km pace -- HR=133
followed by 10 min rest and then...
5k time trial on track in 18:50 -- HR= 166 to 170, then 179 for later laps, 181 at end of last lap.
followed by 10 min rest and then...
5k at 5 min/km pace -- HR = 153 gradually falling to 150 then 149 by end of 5k

There are some really interesting data there. Look at the heart rates in the runs before and after the time trial. Almost identical pace for both, but a good 15 bpm difference. A stark example of cardiac drift. I don't know if that is muscle fatigue, heat or a combination of the two. The temperature was 27 degrees and quite humid. Running at the 153 felt easy, but there was the heart rate staring back at me.

The time trial went pretty well. I had no idea how it would be after so much endurance work and so little speed work for the past six to eight weeks or whatever it has been. So I decided to target to run 90 seconds per lap and see if I could hold it and then, if I felt really comfortable, try to wind it up over the last four or five laps. In the end it was about the right pace because I was working hard, but breathing still under control. I could hold form and pace pretty well, with most laps being 90 or 91 seconds. Two laps were at 92 secs, one was 89, and the final was 84 or something, so I certainly had something left in the tank even though by then I was getting up towards 100% of HRmax. The 92 sec laps occurred sometime soon after halfway and I felt it was getting to be real hard work to hold the same pace, and my heart rate was climbing. So, maybe I could have gone balls to the wall a lot earlier and squeezed out another 10 seconds or more, but generally I think it was a good benchmark run. I think one unknown for me in 5k running is for just how long you should be at or close to HR max.

On the theme of the title of this post, I talked to Brett (2:36 marathon in March) after the workout. He is running phenomenal mileage and just keeps getting PBs (5k pb by 8 sec last night, after a 16 sec PB last month! Now down to 16:01!). He has been running up around 160+ km a week. Last Sunday he ran 52km in two runs, 20 in the morning and 32 at night. Among the 32 he ran 10 in 35 min and change! Fantastic stuff. I think he will go close to running 2:30 at Ohtawara in November.