Threshold Run

Today's plan was for 8 miles with 2 X 2 miles at about half marathon or threshold pace with full recoveries between the efforts. I have been a subject in a few different studies and the most helpful information I received from these is that my lactic threshold occurs at a heartrate of between 168 and 170. So I don't have to worry about pace, I just have to get my heartrate up where it belongs and hold it there for the interval.

There is a loop I can run from my house that is exactly eight miles. I used to know where the mile markers were because I used to do speedwork on this loop, but there are places where I'm not exactly sure now...Is three miles this birch tree or the next one? Hey, someone removed the mile 4 mailbox. Where's that dog that used to be tied up at mile 7? ...that sort of thing. I'll have to re-measure it and find some new landmarks some day if I ever decide I care enough to bother. Anyway, it is a nice loop for speedwork because it is fairly flat. There is a lot of traffic on these roads so I don't do this loop very often. But for today's workout it seemed like a good choice.

I ran early in the morning and it was raining with the temperature right around freezing. There wasn't any ice on the shoulder on rte 25 and my warm up and first 2 mile interval went well. But when I turned onto South Hiram Rd the shoulder was very icy. So I ended up doing a sort of threshold fartlek for my second half of the run. The road itself wasn't icy so I ran threshold pace out in the road until I saw a car coming, then I slowed to a jog and moved onto the icy shoulder until the road was clear of traffic, then back into the road for faster paced running, etc. It worked out OK and it was kind of fun. I honestly don't think I could have held threshold pace for another 2 mile stretch anyway.