Doyle's Running Club

Last night I did a track workout. I wore my heart rate monitor so that I could see how my level of effort coordinated with my heart rate. I did a 10 minute warm up ending at the Wash U track. My initial workout plan was 6 x 400m with a 100m job in between legs. I planned on running each quarter in 1:40, a little better than 7:00/mile and 55-60s slower than my 10K pace. The first few quarters felt easy, but I noticed that my average heart rate over the interval was going up with each repetition. I was still able to hit my time goals without straining, but between managing my monitor and wanting to get my heart rate down I ended up walking most of the 100s. When I got to the sixth interval I still felt okay, so I did another 2 for a total of 8x400m. Each interval was within a couple of seconds of 1:40 and I still felt pretty good. I did a fifteen minute cool down on my way home, but I ended up walking a significant portion of it as I was trying to keep my heart rate in the 140s.