I get to coach on a day to day basis and thought some training analysis might be interesting to everyone at AR. I hate writing about hypothetical training plans or writing blogs about basic training advice (run 80% of runs easy, build mitochonria...), because it's already all been said and because training never works in a vacuum.

So, I've petitioned my athletes to anonymously use data and show how training looks for real people of different levels on a day to day basis.

This post is an example about how I use Lactate Threshold/HR zones to show fitness improvements. I use a poor man's lactate threshold test to help set heart rate zones and pace zones. I then use those zones in specific workouts and prescribe efforts to those zones. So, a threshold workout (10k pace-ish) would be Zone 4, Zone 3 is more Marathon Pace and Zone 2 is aerobic/base/conversation pace.

Paces/Zones/Efforts can vary based on the runner, but is a rough estimate.

This MTGE athlete (Woman in her 40's) is REALLY new to running - and is super patient and intuitive as we build her aerobic ability. We did a LT test for her to set her zones. What that means is that her HR zones and her paces are calibrated based on the test, which was a LT of 178 bpm and a corresponding average pace of 11:52 min/mile.

With those numbers, her HR zones/paces are shown in this graph. Roughly, the HR and Paces should line up when I analyze a workout.

Meaning, if she runs a 60 minute Zone 2 HR run, her pace should fall in Zone 2. I use a TrainingPeaks setup to analyze workouts with those two graphs side by side.

Here is a run from July 29 where the numbers align.. Zone 2 pace/Zone 2 HR

This data, from a 60 minute moderate/aerobic run shows what happens when fitness improves. In this example, her HR is in Zone 1/2, but her Paces are up into Zone 3 and 4. Meaning? She is running at faster paces, but with the same HR and same effort. This run was Oct 10.

When I see this type of data consistently, I'll retest and then adjust the paces so they align. Then, wait for the next fitness bump, rinse and repeat. My guess is when I retest her, her LT HR will be similar, but her pace will drop. It could also be that she sees a bump in her LT HR (up into the 180's) but I doubt it guessing what her max HR is.

If you want to see how I conduct the poor man's Lactate Threshold test - I shot a video with me as the guinea pig and also in the comments is a calculator to plug in your data.

Hope this was mildly interesting!