Cruise Intervals

The morning of January 1 I woke up and decided not to run the 10k Time Trial I had been planning on. I ran the 10 mile fartlek a bit harder than I had originally planned and I'm beginning to feel my legs slowly get heavier and heavier with each run. I still wanted to get a long quality workout in, so I opted for cruise intervals.

THE PLAN: 5 x 3200m with my HR between 86-90% of it's max (170-180 bpm) and I start my next rep once my HR returned to 70% of it's max (145-150 bpm). I would run the first 4 reps on the road and my last rep on the track.

REP 1 - 14:10.4: Pretty comfortable, though I backed off on the effort during the second mile as there were two pretty good size hills.... avg HR was 89% of max.

REST 1 - 48.5 seconds: WTF?!?!? I was expecting it to take about 2 min for my HR to drop to 70% of it's max. I guess this is the pit fall of being fit. Oh well.... avg HR was 82% of max.

REP 2 - 13:37.0: Some decent downhills to make up for the uphill on the first rep.... avg HR was 88% of max.

REST 2 - 51.6 seconds: FML! I was hoping to stand around longer.... avg HR was 82% of max.

REP 3 - 14:13.2: Back up some hills.... avg HR was 89% of max.

REST 3 - 1:07.9: I wasn't ready to go at the start, so I got in a little longer recovery.... avg HR was 79% of max.

REP 4 - 13:45.7: Back down some hills.... avg HR was 89% of max.

REST 4 - 2:32.5: I had to jog about 400m to get back to the track, but I was able to keep my HR from dropping too fast by staying active. Once I got to the track, it took about 30 seconds for my HR to drop to 70% of it's max.... avg HR was 82% of max.

REP 5 - 14:11.0: On the track for this one, legs pretty heavy and I fell of pace a bit the last 1k. Oh well, still a good workout.... avg HR was 88% of max.

I got 13.5 miles in total. I'm really starting to like this HR monitor. I'm beginning to see all it's practical benefits. It definitely helped my keep this workout under control. From the moment I started the first rep, I got in a little over 62 minutes with my HR between 86-90% of it's max. Good day.