I wasn't sure whether I was going to go for a run today. After having done 23 miles on Saturday, I still wasn't 100% recovered - probably more like 90%. Also, with the sun setting at 6:45pm or so, the amount of daylight after getting hom from work is starting to make mid-week runs of more than just a few miles more difficult. Due to a myriad of other factors, one of which being that I wanted to have more time after a mid-week run before this weekends plans for a long ride - I decided to suck it up and get the run in. However I think that for the next couple week, I'm going to have to plan better and get up early on Wednesday's for these mid-week runs.
I wanted to retry the 10 mile loop I had done the other week to compare todays performance with the previous one, but increasing the intensity. Last time I shot for a HR of 155-160 and felt good throughout the entire distance, so this time I wanted to shoot for about 160 to see what things would feel like. I figured there was only a slim chance I'd match or beat the pace of the other week, because as I mentioned there was still some recovery that could happen. Plus, last time it was raining, and although that means high humidity, it also means free cooling. Today it was humid, but not raining.
I followed the same basic formula - about a mile warm up, then running at desired intensity, followed by some lower intensity to keep blood flowing to help recovery. The first couple miles felt pretty good, but I could tell by about mile four that this run was definitely a notch more difficult. Although I felt like I could maintain intensity for most of the run, my HR was consistently closer to the 165 range than 160. Less concerning, but still notable, was that my pace was actually about 10-15 seconds slower than it was for the previous run. In other words, I was working about 10 bpm harder to maintain a pace 10-15 seconds slower than before. Prime example of how big an effect weather and degree of recovery can have on performance.
By the time I got to mile 6, my HR had consistently been closer to 170 for a couple miles, and I started to rethink my plan for the rest of the run. I decided that doing this distance, at this intensity, was already quite a solid jump, and that if I wanted to get a good long ride in this weekend, I should probably not go for broke on this run. Besides, my pace had slowed to 8 min/miles - and while I generally have been more concerned with intesity (ie, HR) - seeing my pace drop was an indication that I had probably reached some limit and should start backing off. So I planned on reaching mile 8, then slowing down to a HR of 160 for one mile, followed by the last mile being at my typical recovery HR of 150. I figured the two miles of reduced intensity should help in keeping me from getting stiff and sore over the next day or so.
So in the end it was slower than my previous run of the same loop - but on the positive side, the intensity level was higher, and I feel like I learned that a HR of 165 probably right around the proper threshold intesity for me. It just seemed that it was a level at which I could sustain for about an hour, which, according to the Daniels running formula, is the proper threshold training level. Looking back on the Nassaney race, I'd estimate that that HR (169) is just about right for tempo workouts - those that I can sustain for about 20-25 minutes.
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