"Dan Stumpus" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
"Tony S." <[email hidden]> wrote
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:I did my second "Hadd" test today, about 2 months after going on his
gradual
Quoted message said:aerobic conditioning program (no speedwork or LT work, but 80% max hr
running on my harder days. Other runs were in the low 70% range).
For comparison purposes, could you summarize your effort levels prior to
the
2 months on Hadd? Where and how is it different?
I average about 70 mpw year-round. My max HR is 180 - 185. I'm 53 years
old. Since I returned to racing 3 years ago after a 16 year layoff, I've
been dissatisfied with my performance relative to wava (I was a bit over
80%, 33:xx 10k, 2:3x marathon when younger). Now I'm barely 70% as a 50+,
despite diligent training.
In the last few years I would run for 3-6 weeks in the 125 - 135 Hr zone
(my
Quoted message said:former endurance phase), then I would roll into 2 days/week of LT (150+)
and
Quoted message said:speed (165+) work for 4-5 weeks prior to a race or series of races.
I take it you didn't do two full 10 mile runs at 150+, like the 145ish runs
you've been doing under Hadd.
Quoted message said:I always do a 20 miler (+/- 4) on Saturday, usually in the 130-135 zone,
but
Quoted message said:occasionally I'd knock out a long run averaging 140-145.
I now believe that I was shortchanging my aerobic development, and
assuming
Quoted message said:that simply on account of the high average mileage I was running, that my
base conditioning was solid. After reading Hadd, I saw that there was an
entire training zone between easy (130-ish) and hard (150+) that I was
ignoring.
It appears that these longer efforts "comfortably" lower than LT were far
more effective in raising your LT, is that how you read it? Less trauma,
and less risk of burning the candle too close to LT, with the possiblity of
burning up some hard-won endurance as a result.
Quoted message said:So I decided to introduce 2 10 mile hilly "medium" (145 ish) effort runs
per
Quoted message said:week, for 8 weeks. This course has 1740' of climb and is on unpaved roads
and singletrack. Only then would I shift over into speedwork (but less of
it) and LT work (occasional short races).
This is the result of that 8 weeks, although I did cheat and run two mild
speed sessions and a 1 hour mountain race just last Saturday. Now I will
be
Quoted message said:doing one speed workout/week leading up to my target race (Malibu Bulldog
50k on 8/27). I will continue the "medium" run 1/week.
I'm no connoisseur of training methods, but I've really liked using a HRM
for training since I got it about 6 years ago. When I found out last year
that the Conconi method was bunk, and that there's really no reliable way to
pinpoint the LT region (aside possibly from working with a renowned expert
in lactate testing), I was disappointed. (I mean you *can* deduce it from
race efforts and the like if you race frequently, but it also seems to be
too variable to be used precisely for training).
I still think the HRM is a fantastic feedback tool, not just for keeping
bread-and-butter runs under control, but also particularly for keeping
effort runs in at a certain effort when track-pacing won't work (eg. for
trail runners). In Hadd I see an encouraging way to make very good use of
the HRM in training, without needing to pinpoint the LT region as precisely.
Thanks for posting your experiment here; it made me go back ad re-read all
of Hadd. In addition to his specific training methods, I think there are
lessons to be learned in there for all runners who want to use a HRM
effectively in training.
-Tony
Quoted message said:-- Dan