Notes
Another warm, sunny day today, and I'm still trying to get used to this new weather. Today was my "aerobic threshold" run for the week. I ran down to the south end of Plunkton, and then up Route 100 into Warren and up to the school. For the first 1.25 miles, I ran easy, keeping my HR under 145; it was all downhill, however, so I ended up running 9:10 pace down. From there I tried to gradually increase my intensity to 160 bpm, but as usual I think I did it a little too fast. I marked this lap at Charlie Ashley Road so I could get an idea of my pace; at this point I was running about 8:40s and my HR was right at 160. I continued on to the intersection of Main Street and Route 100, where I took the next lap. My HR average was still 160, but my pace had now slowed to about 9:10s. From here I ran to the school; my average HR had increased to 166, and my pace had slowed to 9:45s.
It was weird; towards the end of the run, my HR was on a hair trigger. Any change in intensity caused a large change in HR. My hypothesis is that in 6-8 weeks, this will change, and I'll be able to hold the same pace and HR for the whole run. Days like this kind of make me want to bag this Hadd training and just go back to my typical "natural approach" but I'd feel remiss if I didn't at least give it a couple months before I pass judgment.