Hadd test today at Southside, to set my baseline. Recheck in six weeks, see how much progress I've made, in terms of how fast I can run at given heart rates. The format is 2400 meters X 5 at increasing heart rates, starting with what amounts to a very slow jog, and bumping up about 10 bpm on each subsequent interval. Ninety seconds rest between intervals. Here's what I got: HR 127, 15:07 (10:08 pace) HR 134, 14:01 ( 9:24 pace) HR 145, 12:37 ( 8:27 pace) HR 155, 11:45 ( 7:52 pace) HR 163, 11:02 ( 7:24 pace) So the fourth interval was just a smidge below GMP, and the fifth interval was about 10KP. Fifth interval was also HARD. I would also observe that on the first two intervals, I was kind of feeling my way around, partially because the HRM didn't lock in until about halfway through the first interval, and the second because I really started too slow; HR didn't get up near 135 until the last two laps. Also, the instructions were to go out kind of conservatively, rather than blast out fast and have to back off to keep my rate at the desired level, but on the second rep, I was, again, too conservative. I'm pretty sure (OK, completely sure) that the last rep was above LT, and I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying at that pace very much longer. Could I have run a 10K at that pace? Maybe, maybe not. Probably not much past a 5K, really. And then the endorphins kicked in. My cooldown jog felt really good, so I extended it to three miles plus. | 