[vepn]

Hi
I’m using pace as a primary metric. At the start of the plan I did 20min field test. Got the results and trained with that pace for 3 weeks.
Yesterday did another field test and updated zones.

Old Z2 zone was 5:46-6:36, 134-149 HR (LTHR 165)
New Z2 is 5:16-6:02, 142-158 HR (LTHR 175)

Is it logical running 30sec/km faster and 15 beats higher because of one test?
Seems a bit too much, no?
Both tests were all out 20min efforts.

[David Warden]

vepn, thanks for posting! This does not seem out of the ordinary for me for two reasons:

1. 5.75 minutes to 5.25 minutes is 9% faster. Your lower Zone 2 HR increased by 12 beats, or 7.5%. So, you got 10% faster in pace for a 7.5% increase in HR. Perfectly reasonable.

2. HR is significantly influenced by your environment, for example about 1 bpm per degree over 70 F. That means for a given pace, your LTHR will be 170bpm at 70 degrees F and for that exact same pace 180bpm at 80 degrees F. Therefore, unless you run your threshold tests under the exact same conditions (temperature, humidity, time of day, stress, sleep, proximity to food, music…) your HR and Pace will never be perfectly in sync.

That’s one reason why we recommend Pace and Power over HR in general anyway.

David

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