After the somewhat tumultuous ending to the early morning 4x4min session yesterday (on Mar 10), there would be no 1mile swim later in the day. There would not even be a 1mile walk. When I laid back down after an early lunch, I fell into a deep sleep.
When I awoke in the late afternoon, I thought about and processed the events of the previous 24 hours. I concluded my most immediate goal was to find out what pace corresponds to a Heart Rate intensity of 90-94% HRmax? What would be the EPOC load of a 3x3min session of such reps? The decision was made to go to the track and find out. (Actually, the plan was to only run one rep, and add one or two more reps if I felt okay.)
I set the Heart Rate Targets on the Garmin as follows: Run 3min with HR alerts 151-157bpm, recover 3:00min. This time, I would pay close attention during the reps and try and make sure to not exceed 159 bpm, and if I saw 160bpm or higher on the watch, I promised myself to immediately slow down in dramatic fashion to stay within the desired zone.
The winds were still blustery outside, and 3-4 days of rain is in the forecast. By the time I got to the track after sunset, the temperatures had started plummeting. But after praying about it, I had already gotten the green light to 'go'.
So here are the session results:
Mar 10 PM, Track, VaporFly's, EPOC Load: 104
Rep 1. Avg HR 152bpm (90% HRmax), MaxHR 157bpm (93% HRmax), Avg Pace 6:40;
Rep 2. Avg HR 152bpm (90% HRmax), MaxHR 160bpm (95% HRmax), Avg Pace 6:41;
Rep 3. Avg HR 153bpm (91% HRmax), MaxHR 159bpm (95% HRmax), Avg Pace 6:43.
Despite the wind gusts blowing me around on the track again, this session was executed well. The Avg. Pace of the reps came in a little faster than current 5k fitness. The EPOC load for this session is not excessive.
I cut the cool-down short. I went to my vehicle and got out of my wet clothes ASAP.
After the session, my Garmin updated the estimated Lactate Threshold pace to 7:30, and kept LT Heart Rate at 157bpm. Surprisingly, it upgraded my VO2max estimate from 52 to 53, and updated the Race Predictor values as follows:
5k................19:54
10k.............41:57
Half............1:35:35
Marathon...3:41:36.
In conclusion, I feel now I have something to work with, going forward for this current race prep period. I plan to perform the lower intensity LT 4x4min reps, and the higher intensity 3x3min reps, as discussed above. I'll still attempt up to three sessions of each, spaced through-out the week. If I incorporate an Alactic Hill sprint session, the rep duration will be changed from 15sec to 10sec.
Cheers!