Could shouting to a friend cost time later in a race? What do you think?
In a 15k Saturday, the course was slightly uphill to the turnaround just before mile five. My pace had been steady and my HR had stabilized at 160. I anticipated going back faster after the turnaround since it was slightly downhill, but instead my HR spiked from 160 to 165 somewhere before hitting the 5 mile marker. Looking back, the only thing out of the ordinary that happened was that I had a brief, shouted conversation with a runner who had already gone around the turnaround cone as was headed back. That was roughly when my HR spiked from 160 to 165. It stayed at 165 the rest of the way until my final kick.
The higher HR eventually forced me to slow 20sec/mile over the last few miles, although my HR stayed at 165.
Has anyone experienced something like this? I would have thought that shouting would only spike my HR for a few seconds, but I'm guessing I was right on my threshold and shouting took me over the top into oxygen debt and I never recovered.