[thegapitts]

Okay so just finished the second one of these guys and I do not like this workout lol.

Last week I felt pretty awesome – today not so much. I’m wondering if I’m not doing this right, or need to make any adjustments.

At a glance:

Last week splits (pace / avg hr – max hr of 175)
8:18 / 163
8:05 / 167
8:17 / 167
8:18 / 167

Today’s splits (max hr of 170)
8:23 / 157
8:15 / 162
8:24 / 163
8:37 / 163

There is no ‘consider reducing the rest time’ – as I can’t even run the rests. It takes about 2mins+ for it to even come back down. Which means the 5 min z2 and 5 min z1 cool downs on the return home from the track are practically walking. Everytime I get in the zone soon as I pick it up to run it spikes back up. I suspect this is how every HIM run split is for me – as I have always had to run/walk them.

When I do these intervals the watch is yelling at me constantly, I can’t keep it in Z3. My Z3 is 153-161.

Based on this information, is it possible my HR zones need reassessing? My zones are based off a 20min test I did before starting this program in January – and I’m wondering if I even calculated it accurately.

That 20 min test was a avg pace of 8:16 / avg HR of 161 / max HR of 171.

Current Z1 is near impossible for me to run in, so I typically just keep low z2 for z1 segments.

Z2 (130-145) is ‘nose breathing’ pace/feel for me. Which shocks my husband because his Z2 is like 120 and he runs wayyyy faster than I do – and says he wouldn’t call even Z1 ‘nose breathing’. This is also why I can’t go backcountry trail running into the mountains with him for 20+ miles, because his avg HR covering ridiculous elevation gain is what mine is while lacing up my shoes. No, I’m not jealous at all….

Starting to wonder if I wouldn’t have been better off training by another metric.

Welcome any and all advice.

[divitoca@gmail.com]

I’ve recently switched to power from pace guided running and I really like it. It seems to be a more pure form of measurement. It keeps me really consistent, unlike pace (where it was a struggle to keep the required pacees going up a 30 percent incline hill, welcome to western PA) and heart rate which jumped around too much. I believe the recommended order or running metric is power, pace, heart rate or percieved effort. You’ll have to double check on the 80 20 page.

Anyhow, if you haven’t done a run test since before January, it’s only logical to assume that you should probably retest…I mean, if you’ve been consistently training, and following the structured workouts… It’s coming up on April… According to my trust “80/20 Demi God” plan… I’m retesting every 4 to 6 weeks… Have you looked ahead to see if you have one coming up?

Also, IMHO I would avoid looking at 2 metrics. Just pick one, otherwise you’ll drive yourself crazy. I like power because it really takes allot of unnecessary pressure off trying to keep a certian pace

Also, remember that men and women ARE different. A males heart is typically larger so will need less beats.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4190707/

[winoria]

At a glance:

Last week splits (pace / avg hr – max hr of 175)
8:18 / 163
8:05 / 167
8:17 / 167
8:18 / 167

Today’s splits (max hr of 170)
8:23 / 157
8:15 / 162
8:24 / 163
8:37 / 163

To me, these look quite comparable assuming you ran them on a similar route? There are many reasons why HR can differ (sleep/rest, time of the day, temperature, etc.).

I assume, that you are following a HR run plan. My understanding is that HR is lagging and running high(er) and short(er) effort intervals, your HR will take some time to reach the prescribed zone. Of course, the same is true on the reverse side, meaning that when you are done with your interval, your HR stays high even though you reduced your pace for recovery.
I would recommend to either switch to pace/power or use RPE for these intervals/recovery.

Winoria

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