Last week, I failed on a 10K push starting at a pace of 2:00 and dropping a second for each 1km completed.  Today, I started 2 seconds slower at 2:02.  It went much better.

Warmup was 4 minutes at 2:10, 2 minutes at 2:05, 2 minutes at 2:00 and 2:00 at 1:55.

Then in to the push.  The first few 1000m chunks felt very easy and I had trouble staying slow enough.  After 4000 meters, I decided to drop an extra second since I was most of the way there anyway.  That put me a bit closer to the edge, but still manageable.    I had enough left in the tank to keep the last 1000 faster than 1:50.

I like the way the HR response looks for these push pieces.  A linear ramp.  There really isn’t much chance for the body to acclimate to each power level.  I did this free rate, trying  to find a rate that felt easiest for each pace target.  It is interesting how the SPI kind of hunted around as I went.  I might try to do one of these with a constant SPI target.  I am still working too hard on slides for these paces, but I’m learning as I go.

Next time I will start at 2:01 and stick to the paces.

Cool down was 10 minutes starting at 1:58 and slowing down by 4 seconds after each 2 minute block.

Later today, I’ll do an easy 30 minute recovery session.

Tomorrow morning: 4 x 20′ / 1′ rest Lazy Man’s L4.