Several months ago I was out of shape and I've mostly been doing easy running and a few tempos so far. I don't have a big background of consistent training and I haven't recently run any 5k pace, 10k pace, track workouts, etc. So I'm not really in touch with the correct effort at certain paces. That's a problem when hill workouts are mostly prescribed by effort, not by pace. Add on to that that my fitness is rapidly changing (improving) as I get into shape and that every hill is slightly different (at least the one I have is not a consistent grade) and it's hard for me to latch on to any objective landmarks to guide my effort.
My specifics if you want specifics: I ran a high 1:11 HM in November but I feel like I'm already fitter than that, 1:10 shape is probably a safe bet. Today I did 6 x 2:00, I averaged around 6:20 pace and 105 feet climb, with my jog back recoveries taking around 2:23 average. My HR (I wear a chest strap) was peaking at the same HR as the end of 4 mile tempos. I felt like I could have done several more reps but I didn't want to overdo it -- I plan to do more volume soon.
My instinct is that I absolutely did these too slow and that I should be going 6:00 pace at least but I did want to err on the side of caution. I have 4 months until my race so I'm not in a hurry to complete key workouts.
Any coaches or athletes want to chime in on some universal ways to home in on the correct effort? Should the last rep be a real struggle or should I always feel like I could do a few more if I had to? How should I feel halfway through the workout? Should my HR be getting up to 5k race levels or are 2:00 reps too short to expect that? Should I do longer reps or faster or slower jog backs?
I am training for a 12k that has a 170 foot climb over 2/3 of a mile (Bay to Breakers).