Friday 30 March 2012

Plateau & the end of Hadd?

Latest 2400 test tonight and some strange results; at last I saw significant improvement at the 135bpm effort but I have actually gone backwards or remained pretty much static at the higher efforts. In the intervening five weeks I increased my sub LT runs to 82%, I wonder if that played a role in these statistics. It's time to reassess my approach and consider amending my approach but I'll take a few days to consider things; in the meantime Saturday's half-marathon should be instructive.

29 March 2012
1.49m - 12:40 (08:30) 136bpm
1.49m - 12:06 (08:07) 145bpm
1.49m - 11:13 (07:31) 156bpm
1.49m - 09:54 (06:39) 166bpm
1.49m - 09:08 (06:07) 174bpm

23 February 2012
1.49m - 13:38(9:09/m) - 136bpm avge
1.49m - 12:19(8:15/m) - 145bpm avge
1.49m - 11:00(7:23/m) - 154bpm avge
1.49m - 10:00(6:42/m) - 165bpm avge
1.49m - 9:13(6:11/m) - 171bpm avge

19 January 2012
1.49m - 13:43(9:12/m) - 136bpm avge
1.49m - 12:30(8:23/m) - 145bpm avge
1.49m - 11:10(7:29/m) - 154bpm avge  
1.49m - 10:07(6:47/m) - 163bpm avge
1.49m - 9:20(6:15/m) - 174bpm avge

2 December 2011
1.49m - 13:37(9:08/m) - 134bpm avge
1.49m - 12:39(8:29/m) - 144bpm avge
1.49m - 11:19(7:35/m) - 156bpm avge
1.49m - 10:23(6:58/m) - 165bpm avge
1.49m - 9:28(6:21/m) - 172bpm avge

Friday 2 March 2012

Third 2400 test

23 February 2012
1.49m - 13:38(9:09/m) - 136bpm avge
1.49m - 12:19(8:15/m) - 145bpm avge
1.49m - 11:00(7:23/m) - 154bpm avge
1.49m - 10:00(6:42/m) - 165bpm avge
1.49m - 9:13(6:11/m) - 171bpm avge

Things are still moving in the right direction, although the pace of the 135bpm effort stubbornly remains the same as it has since I began Hadd. Additionally, the differential between 145 and 155bpm remains more than fifty seconds. I have concluded that both of these stubborn trends indicate that I probably need to increase the effort on my sub LT runs from 80 to 82% MHR.
My next 2400 hundred test will hopefully demonstrate the efficacy of increasing the sub LT effort and will play a significant part in my decision to do a spring marathon or not and also the pace at which I will race the Nippy Nor'easter at the end of March. The long term trends are quite pleasing and if I can continue to take about six second per mile off my 165 and 175 efforts every five or so weeks I will be quite happy. Interestingly I struggled to get the HR up to 175 on the final 2400m effort. I also felt that the 165bpm effort was more sustainable than it has been; I felt that I could have kept going at that effort for at least ten miles while this effort in December felt more like 10K pace.