Holy Cow, the Hills!!
OK, NOW I know why coaches need coaches. I’m going to write this post, and Jason is going to respond, duh, Diane. So, I go off to do my hill repeat workout this morning and I run 16min to get to my hill (in case you care, it is on Bartlett past the Lyman St turn towards Southboro) press my watch to start my intervals of 1 min as hard as I can go up the hill. That is the easy part of following directions. It’s the back down the hill-recovery part I apparently thought I could cut corners on.
So, for the first 5 (of 12) intervals, I run up as fast as I can and I peak my heart rate at around 177, and I slowly jog back down the hill. This is the kicker. When I get to where I started from, I turn around and do it again. The problem is that my HR only got down to 155-157. So I ended up starting the next interval around 160 which is way too high to be starting the all out effort from if I’m going to make it to 12 intervals. By the 5th interval, I’m seriously doubting whether I can finish the set and start the negative talk about how out of shape I must be not to be able to do this. Then, I dig deep, actually think about my mother’s suffering and how this is rediculous, of course I can finish….and it hits me. Duh, Diane, get your HR lower before you start the next interval.
So, on interval 6, I run up as hard as I can, and jog lightly back down to about 1/2 way down the hill, then I walk (novel idea, huh?). I end up starting interval 7 at a HR of 140. Low and behold, I made it further up the hill, and got my HR to peak at 182 instead of 177 before the minute was over. By the last set of 5 intervals, I was feeling much better and could have a more quality interval. This is not to say that the “easy” jog home was easy! I was dying. I ended up cutting the jog home down to 13min and skipping the last 1/2 mile. I am completely spent! What a great workout.
Lesson learned to my athletes, do as I say, not as I do 
 As John Bingham says in his postings, “Waddle on folks”.  Have a great Easter!
2 comments
According to Jack Daniels, PhD book “Running” he believes for an interval to be effective it needs to be in the upper threashold (like your doing with a HR at 182) of 95 to 100% of VO2 max. He says, “When running at proper Interval pace, your body takes about 2 minutes to reach a point where it’s operating at max oxygen comsumption.” He goes on to say, “Experience tells me and researchers agree that the optimal duration of individual workbouts in an interval session is between three and five minutes each.” I’ve following this recommendation (and so does my coach, 5x IM champion) for each swimming, biking and running and I’ve noticed a marked improvement in my VO2 max and ability to go faster at lower HR.
I hope this helps.
That is interesting Mike, thanks. I think it depends on what you are doing the interval for. In my case I am doing hill repeats as a power building exercise because I can’t do weights on my legs very effectively.
Leave a Comment