07/11/2005

Workout: lactate threshold, 8mi w/4mi at 15K or half-marathon pace.

Lactate who? What? Is that jogging while carry a jug of milk?

No, rather it is the running speed at which lactate starts to rapidly accumulate in muscles and blood. In other words, it is a fancy way to assess the point in one's temple in which the energy being used is just enough to keep up the maxium running pace. Basically it means this: prepare for a good ass-kicking.

I'd thought the introduction had already take place, but apparently not. "Rubber, meet road. Road, meet rubber."

Wearing my Polar S120 HRM for the first time, I jogged the first two miles down to the waterfront, and then prepared for my "4mi at 15K or half-marathon pace". By my rough calculations, that meant approximately 6:30/mi, for about a 1:25 half-marathon time.

The first mile was brutal as I contemplated how I could possibly maintain a pace like this for 26.2 miles. But I quickly realized why it was so brutal: first mile split was 6:14. Ok, need to slow down. Second split: 6:15. OK, dumbass--need to slow down MORE than that. Third mile was 6:35, fourth was 6:38; much better.

When I first put on the HRM in the morning, my heart rate was at around 60 beats/min. By the middle of my 4-mile stretch, it was in the high 160s. Zoinks!

In the end, a very good workout, and one that I won't soon forget.