Hi all,
I find that on runs lasting longer than two hours it starts to become difficult to choose an initial pace that will not exceed my AeT HR by the end of the run. I am wondering if there are any commonly employed strategies or heuristics you all use for deciding on a starting pace or HR for longer runs? Or do you just go by experience?
I’m approaching the end of my 50k training plan, and for training runs of about 15miles and upwards I have very little experience to fall back on for settling on an starting HR, and tend to blow up towards the end of the run. I am monitoring my HR, so I know when i’m reaching the top of zone 2, but find it very difficult to adjust enough at that point to make a meaningful difference to the upward drift of my HR.
For me, even a pace that feels very very comfortable and corresponds to a low HR, will drift up to and over AeT HR by the end of a 3 hour run.
Some ideas that I had, but haven’t tried yet:
– Calculating a starting HR based on an assumed HR drift of 5% per hour compounded over the estimated length of the run.
ie, for my AeT HR of 150, with a four hour run and a HR drift of 5% per hour, I would need to start (or try to average the first hour, maybe) with a pace that corresponds to a 124bpm HR, in order to accommodate that 1.21% total increase.
– Setting hourly pace targets: ie. my AeT pace measured on a treadmill at #2 grade is 9.30 minute/mile, so to accommodate that I could attempt to decrease my pace by ~5% every hour or ~30sec/mile.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated!