Test for Progress

10k 56:32 HR Avg 146 Max 172
Course: UoQ Track.
Start Time: 5:40 am Temp 26C.
Session Type: Lactate HR Test

I have been meaning to do another one of these tests for quite a while now. I did my first on the 24/7/05 .

The test runs along the priciples outline in this article by Hadd . The idea is to do this every couple of months and to monitor your pace at given Heart Rates and to get some idea of your improvement and Lactate Thresholds. The tests I do are based on 2000m sets with 90 seconds of rest between each and are run at HR 135, 145, 155, 165 and 175.

I got up early again and was out at the Uni track ready to go at 5:25am this morning. It was warm and cloudy and boy did it make it humid. The situation was not helped by the sprinklers being on in the middle of the track. The low HR sets were quite easy but by the time I got to the last two, I was feeling the humidity and still had the two hardest sets to go. The HR 175 set I found really taxing and struggled to get up to the HR and managed only 171.

Here are the pace results in mins/Km from July and today.
The results were: July Dec
Heart Rate 135 - 6:25 5:20
Heart Rate 145 - 5:45 4:58
Heart Rate 155 - 5:03 4:35
Heart Rate 165 - 4:38 4:18
Heart Rate 175 - 4:15 4:10

I must say I am very pleased with the progress. If you have been following my training for the last five months you will be aware that I only have two different training paces. (I know it makes for boring reading but that is the plan.) Firstly HR 135 for Long Runs and easy days. Then once or sometimes twice a week a HR 155 run for a "quicker" easy run but still keeping it aerobic.

In these sub aerobic zones, I have made major advances as you can see. I think HR 155 is pretty close to my Lactate Threshold Level at this point in time because I have been able to run up to 15k at that HR and at around 4:35 pace and still feel I could keep going further without a rise in HR.

The 20 second improvement at HR165 is despite not doing any training at that speed and just goes to show you can get quicker training slow. Or "Lots of Gain without the Pain" as I like to call it. The small improvement at HR 175 I put down to the different conditions this time as opposed to mid-winter, because I was really buggered today running that set.

So I will be continuing this training regime till the end of March. If at that time, I was to be down to sub 4:20 for HR 155 I would be over the moon. I would also like my Lactate Threshold to be nudged up to be above HR 160. From April I will start adding some anaerobic sessions of Hill running, intervals and speed sessions in the three months leading to my Current Race Goal, the Gold Coast Marathon in July. That's only just over 26 weeks away.