Heart Rate Test

Mid-way through February I did a heart rate test for the first time in over a year. The heart rate test consisted of a one mile warm up, followed by 1 mile at a specific HR, 90 second rest, 1 mile at a higher specified HR, 90 second rest x 4, for 5 total miles (without the warm up included). This HR test comes from a monsterously long document that Sam shared with me in 2011 when I first became interested in HR training. If anyone wants to see that super long document, let me know, I'll email it to you, but be warned, it's a 20-25 page word document. However, it does explain a lot of information and tells you what HR ranges to do for the test.

Essentially the gist is, that if you train by HR in the proper zones for your runs, your heart will become more efficient, and it will take less work to run certain paces. So as your fitness increases, your pace at certain HR zones will become faster.

My results for the test are as follows:

02/11/14
Time	Goal HR (avg.)	Actual HR (avg.)	HR (max)
12:04	140	140	147
10:45	150	150	157
09:36	160	155	164
08:32	170	164	172
07:53	180	170	178

And if we compare that to 15 months ago:

11/12/12
Time	Goal HR (avg.)	Actual HR (avg.)	HR (max)
12:44	140	145	152
12:10	150	153	159
11:17	160	155	164
09:28	170	166	174
08:22	180	174	182

I'd say I've made some strong progress. Yay for my heart becoming more efficient and increased mitochondria. Whoop.

However, if we compare recently to my first two tests done in what I'd consider to be my best running shape, but prior to starting HR training, I still have a ways to go, but shockingly not nearly as much as I would've guessed. Some of my higher heart rate zones are the same or really close to those in December 2011. Now if I could effectively add some speedwork without breaking myself, I could finally take some shots at my forever old PRs.....

02/11/14
Time	Goal HR (avg.)	Actual HR (avg.)	HR (max)
12:04	140	140	147
10:45	150	150	157
09:36	160	155	164
08:32	170	164	172
07:53	180	170	178

December 15th, 2011
Time	Goal HR (avg.)	Actual HR (avg.)	HR (max)
11:19	140	147	179
10:26	150	152	159
09:59	160	158	167
08:59	170	167	175
07:53	180	176	183
02/23/12
Time	Goal HR (avg.)	Actual HR (avg.)	HR (max)
10:41	140	144	177
10:08	150	148	160
09:22	160	159	164
08:25	170	167	174
07:29	180	176	182
Differences
140	:38
150	:18
160	:37
170	:34
180	:24

It takes your body at least six weeks to see marked changes with these tests, so it doesn't do you any good to do them more frequently than that, but I plan to do another test the week before my half later this month to see what the results are.