Last night I was in the pool - a 800m warm up was followed by a 1,500m continuous swim at above IM race pace. I pressed my lap button every 500m and recorded 8:56, 9:11 and 9:13 for a total time of just over 27mins. Unfortunately a little slower than last time I completed the test, which was disappointing because I had plenty of energy left at the end and obviously got my pace wrong. The good news is that I definitely found the test easier than last time. I simply need to push myself and do these hard sessions - harder! (I have said that before).
This morning is was out in the wind and rain and a tempo run along Brighton seafront. After a 10 min warm up the plan was to run for 30 mins at above race pace (quite hard) pressing the lap button after 10 mins. The last 20 mins is normally a good indicator of your 'Lactate Threshold' for the run. When I did this test previously (about 2 months ago) my lactate threshold HR was 154bpm. This morning it was definitely lower than that level - I need to download the data to review but I expect it to be nearer to 148-150bpm. Does this mean I did not go hard enough (again)? Well it felt quite fast with a high cadence and decent pace. Despite the strong wind and rain I really did feel my running had improved. Of course I will have to compare the data against my previous effort. If it turns out that the pace is higher with a lower LTHR then I will consider that I am certainly getting fitter. Alternatively I will be disappointed if the pace on the test before is higher than today and I have once again failed in 'going hard'.
On Thursday I have another chance to push myself, this time on the bike turbo. Let's make it count!
UPDATE - just downloaded the run data to Training Peaks and am relatively pleased. Back in February I did the same 30 min tempo test. For the last 20 minutes my LTHR was 154, cadence of 85 and average pace of 4:57mins per km. Today's run - last 20 minutes: LTHR was 148, cadence of 91 and average pace of 4:36. Looks good - however, would it have been better still if I pushed harder?
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