[Scott Johnston]

Jim:

Thanks for writing in with your questions.  I see a very positive trend here but first I have a question:  I assume that it was 6 weeks between rounds 1 and 2 but how much time elapsed between the three tests 1,2 and 3?  And how much time between tests 4,5 and 6?  Since these tests are 1 typically hour long I am concerned that you did 3 consecutive hours of testing in each round.

The good news is that when we compare test 1 to test 4, test 2 to test 5 and test 3 to test 6 in every case you are doing the same amount of work at a considerably lower heart rate.  5bpm drop during the second half of the test when testing at 1.8mph, a 22bpm drop testing at 1.6mph during the second half and when testing at 1.4mph there was a 19bpm drop in the second half of the test.

Thinking about this for a metabolic stand point: This shows that your aerobic metabolism is significantly better at processing O2 now than 6 weeks ago.  Look at the starting heart rates.  It now only takes 108 vs 121bpm to move at 1.6mph  Similarly it now takes 101 vs 117bpm to move at 1.4 mph.  To me this indicates that training with 120 as your upper limit has resulted in text book improvement in your aerobic capacity.

I suggest redoing ONE test where you use a starting HR of 115-117 (the starting HR in test 3).  Adjust the speed during the warm up so that HR stabilizes there. Email me your results at Scott@evokeendurance.com

Scott