Last hard track workout before the River Run
On the rivet one last time at the Lee track with Jay, John and Mike. Jay and John ran 10 x 400 at mile pace. Mike and I opted for some longer intervals so we did 2 x 1000 a little slower than 5k pace, 2 x 800 at 5k pace and 3 x 400 at mile pace.
Like Tuesday, it was a bit muggy out there. The hip was a bit sore in the 1-mile warm-up, but didn't feel terribly bad during the intervals. Looking at the chart, the recovery period between the first and second 1000 was about 25 seconds shorter than the recovery period between the second 1000 and the first 800. As a result, my heart rate only dropped to around 140 before it was time to go again. It didn't really affect performance, because the second 1000 was 2 seconds faster than the first. Recovery between thesecond 800 and the first 400 was a full 1:30, which allowed my heart rate to recover to almost 120, but then recoveries between the first and second 400 and the second and third 400s were 1:14 and 1:21 respectively, so you can see the dips trend up.
I think doing the workouts with the shorter recovery periods are good for teaching the body to push through the lactic buildup and acclimate itself to staying in the anaerobic zone. However, I don't think shorter recoveries are beneficial for all track workouts, but perhaps just those right before a big race when you are sharpening up for peak performance.
Comments
The rec. between tempo efforts should be shorter since you are running at tempo pace and your effort HR should not get into an anerobic zone. They should be sub-lactic which increases your lactate threshold. Your HR graph looks good for all the efforts except your cooldown. Maybe you need to tippy toe or do a controlled walk/jog on the track or on the flat roads behind the track instead of the slight roll around the lirbary. Good quality today. McLamb
Posted by: Mike McLamb | March 1, 2007 3:11 PM
Yeah, those little inclines around the park tend to make the HR jump. I think a slow jog down Belvedere or Avondale would probably be better.
Posted by: MMB | March 1, 2007 3:32 PM