[HenryL65]

Evoke Team, a little about me: male, 42, started running about a year and a half ago and have seen much progress (first starting out I could barely finish a 10 min/mile, 3 mile run with avg HR at 171. Last Nov I completed a half-marathon at an 8:25 min/mile pace and avg HR 157). Much of my “formal” training has been running plans from Garmin. I think these have helped develop my anaerobic capacity but less so my aerobic capacity, partly because I would pick a target race pace and their calculation I think made my easy runs too intense. I currently log between 4 and 5 hours of running a week with 3 days of strength training. I usually do 2 or 3 easy effort runs a week, one of them being long (an hour and a half), and then try and do 1 or 2 interval or tempo sessions each week.

I recently came across your site and have been devouring information; great stuff. I want to develop my aerobic base (in hopes of maybe doing a marathon one day, and maybe even an ultra) and so I completed an HR Drift Test recently. I targeted a heartrate of 125, felt like it was a solid test,  but had basically 0% change in my HR/pace. In light of that I have been targeting an HR of 130 in my easy runs. I have noticed my avg pace on a 6-mile run I do at least once a week (same course) has been declining since I started two weeks ago.

Questions: Is it possible my aerobic HR is still higher than 130 (I plan to do another drift test soon)? Would training at a significantly lower than my Zone 2 threshold cause a decrease in pace? Also, a big confounding factor is that I have been in a calorie deficit of around 400 – 500 calories a day since early Jan (knocking off holiday weight/leaning down for spring/summer); could calorie restriction lead to the decreasing pace? I feel fine during and after my runs and workouts, my sleep is pretty solid, and I am getting plenty of protein. I really want to commit to legit Zone 2 training but absolutely do not want to regress. Any input would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Henry

 

[HenryL65]

Some added context. After completing the half, I spent most of Dec doing easy runs using the MAF method (HR around 137 to 140) and saw incremental pace gains, although I was not at a calorie deficit. After reading about ADS, I was worried I was training too hard in my easy runs (I did not yet understand my Zone 2 HR could actually increase with training), so I thought I should dial it back significantly. After getting no drift in the HR Drift test at 125, I probably dropped too low. I’m thinking of targeting 135 on my next test, but maybe it should be 140?

[Seth Keena]

Hi Henry,

Thanks for writing in.   There are many subtleties that can play a part in slowing pace over time at the same HR. Running calorie deficit or chronic fatigue in the legs and or globally can be some reasons. You might try to cut volume by 50% for a week or 10days , calorie balance for time period, and observe what happens to your AeT pace. If you see it come up, it was likely you were in need of a rest week. You may have been over training (beyond your capacity for too long) and the only way to know this is to resume the same volume as you were and watch what happens to AeT pace. If it slumps again, it’s likely this load is too much and you need to train fewer hours.

If you’re not already, adding a few strides and/or sprints to the week could help this situation. Enforce signaling for greater leg speed and power that translates to steady state aerobic pace. Basic strength in the training is almost always a good means to maintain power for stride length.

Above are some approaches to working through this, but there are more. Likely no one perfect answer either. Also, do another treadmill test at 135bpm; no use in prolonged speculation if you can do a workout and a free test all in one and walk away with the information you really need.

Hope this helps,

Seth

[HenryL65]

Hi Seth,

Thanks for the information and suggestions; very helpful. This past week I decided to bring my calories back up to maintenance and saw a notable increase in my pace at the same heartrate in the 6 mile runs. Seems the deficit was likely the culprit…good to know and set my expectations correctly. I also completed another HR Drift test this morning (did it on a track as I don’t have access to a treadmill) at ~135 bpm and had a 4.1% drift. Glad to have the AeT effort more dialed in.

If in the future I see my pace declining but calories are at maintenance, I will try to deload/drop volume as you recommend. Thanks again for the information.

Henry

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