My experiment

For most of my athletic career, I've been all about distance. How much farther can I go? How long can I hang on to this pace? I've never been very comfortable with the anaerobic sensation of burning, screaming muscles and instead have preferred to back off the intensity just a smidge in favor of going ever longer, ever farther.

But now, I'm trying something new. An experiment. How fast can I go? Can I make myself push through the lactic acid buildup, not just physically but mentally? Can I learn to race?

This fall I raced two 5ks and both were eye-openers for me. For one thing, I'd never run under 7:00 per mile pace in a 5k before, and twice in one month I averaged 6:35s. This was a huge step for me, but in both races things went wrong. I went out way too fast, assuming that my competitors in the 6:30-7:00 corral would be going the same pace as me. False. My first miles were 6:25 and 6:15 respectively, and then I proceeded to gradually slow as the race went on. I also chickened out and walked for 10 sec in each of the races with about 0.5 miles left to go. Seriously? Who does that??

In each of these races, I'd gotten closer than I'd ever thought possible to the elusive 20:00 barrier and that is my new goal.

• Break 20:00 in my 5k
• No walking
• Keep a consistent pace
• Finish strong

To accomplish these goals, I've enlisted the help of a fellow triathlete/runner Adam. Our training is so far very different from anything I've done before. For the first time I'm running consistently 6 days a week, but many of these runs have a distinct recovery focus.

The biggest change, however, is the incorporation of heart rate metrics into our training plan. I've used an HRM in training before, a long time ago, but I never used the data intelligently. My HRM was a means to gauge intensity and record total calories burned during a bootcamp or personal training session but never to dictate particular training zones.

Based on a threshold test, Adam determined 5 heart rate-based training zones, with which I'm gradually becoming more familiar:

• Zone 1 - below 149. Easy breezy, almost stubbornly so. hills require teensy tiny steps, or almost walking pace. On flat ground, I can go up to 8:30ish pace if I concentrate on keeping my breathing slow and steady.
• Zone 2 - 149-158. I get to pick it up a bit, but can still carry on full conversations. On flat ground, this is about 8:20ish pace.
• Zone 3 - 159-166. I can still talk but the sentences are shorter, choppier. This is approaching 70.3 to 13.1 effort.
• Zone 4 - 167-174. If I stayed towards the lower end, this would probably be 10 mile pace, and the upper end is closer to 10k pace. If I'm feeling fresh and on flat ground, upper zone 4 can be 7:15 pace.
• Zone 5 - 175 and above. 5k pace and above! Not really talking here, haha.

The really hard part about this type of training for me is keeping an eye on the HR values during a run and matching my effort to varying terrain. Any bit of an incline will send my HR up a notch and while I would normally try to maintain pace up a hill, now I'm forced to back off to keep the HR in a given sweet spot. It makes sense that I should back off to reserve that energy for the flats or downhills later in the race, but it's still hard to do.

I'm also learning that outside factors can influence my heart rate, from being sick (big time!), to seeing someone running about my speed on the other side of the road, to the music I hear, to the terrain I'm running on (not just in terms of incline or decline, but running over icy patches will also send my HR up a notch).

Right now I'm 6 weeks out from my goal race: the Bright Beginnings 5k on Saturday, March 7. I'll check in again after my next threshold test in two weeks!