When I would train for marathons, I liked to do weekly speed work, either a tempo run or intervals. While I might do quarter mile repeats when getting ready for a 10K distance race, for the marathon I found mile repeats worked well for me. I could only do about 4 of them, since that meant 4 miles running well over my lactate threshold.

For cycling I patterned a similar workout. Since it took me about 6:45 to 7:00 minutes to run the mile repeats, I duplicated that with 7 minutes flat out on the bike, followed by an easy 4 minutes. I choose a relatively flat course that included a couple miles of warm-up from our house and then a straight shot, with no need for stop signs or traffic lights during each of the 7 minute intervals. The blue sections on the map are the intervals done at speed and the red sections the recovery portions. From the map it would as if I could fit in a 5th interval at the end, but there are too many stop lights and I am way too tired to try a 5th one. It seems as if all I can do is ride the 4.5 miles back home.

You can see the four intervals, followed by the recovery period from this heart rate curve. I tried to get into Zone 5 on each interval (for myself that means 167 bpm or higher), sometime I was able to do except for the 4th interval where the 8 mile run and the prior 3 intervals were finally taking their toll. At some point your legs and can’t push the heart as much as the heart can deliver. I have my Garmin Edge 500 setup to show the heart rate zone I am in, which works well for this type of workout.

Using a circular course allows me to average the 4 segments so as to somewhat cancel the effect of the wind. This allows a comparison between different dates. I have kept this table at the bottom to show those. With the 8 mile run before, I was not able to quite do the same average speed. There was also a strong headwind on some sections, a penalty you never quite get back on the other sections. Since this is for training, the actual speed is not as important as getting my heart rate up sufficient to exceed my lactate threshold, with a short recovery and then a repeat. This is the best way to improve one’s lactate threshold.

About two weeks ago I did the 1000 Warriors race and had terrible cramping on the final climb up Snowbird. I usually only get to climb this hill after a lot of biking in terms of distance and climbing. Since Anne needed to return something to a store in Salt Lake I thought this was a good time to do the usual bike route in reverse so I had her drop me off on Wasatch Blvd.

I figured I could set a new best time up Snowbird since I would not have that many miles on my legs before I started. I am proud to say I was not passed by any other cyclist this time and I passed everyone in sight (an old guy on a recumbent and another ld guy on a mountain bike). I ended up with a time that was about 8 minutes faster than my prior best time I did on a training ride.

After descending back down I rode the 1000 Warriors route in reverse until I reached the bottom of Transverse Ridge (the north side of Suncrest). If thought maybe I could set a new PR on this hill also so I took my heart rate up to a rather high level and kept it there for the entire climb. I was able to take three minutes off my prior best time.

I was feeling rather tired and was tempted to ride back home the flat way. But after making a brief stop to get some more liquid in me (it was hot in the low 90′s) I decided to stick with my original plan and go up American Fork Canyon, then down the Alpine Loop. As I started the climb, I was feeling in pretty good shape and decided to give it a go to see if I could sent a 3rd PR for the day, something I have never been able to do before. I passed a couple of riders I recognized that had the “Ride for a Reason” jersey on. One joined me for awhile but when I answered his question that it was 3 miles to the summit, he backed off to join his friend. I was checking the time on the mile markers and about 1.5 miles from the top I knew I would be able to set a new record time. I ended up taking another 2 minutes off. So with the 3 new PRs I collectively took 13 minutes off, which I was very happy about.

It was getting a bit cool as I started to descend down the Alpine Loop. I am sure that the temperature was high enough but after pushing my body so hard on three tough climbs, I guess I should have stopped and rested. I did decide to take it easy going down. About 6 miles from home I had a flat on the rear tire. Normally would have been frustrated to flat so close to home but I was so happy with my riding that I just took it in stride.

Here is all the data. You will see that my LT has moved up from my training because I was able to sustain heart rates over 165 bpm for almost an hour. Before I would have been cooked if I tried that. My maximum heart rate for the day was 177, so I guess my maximum heart rate is still around 180. I am not quite sure why I ever let my heart rate go to 177, I guess I got excited near the top of Transverse Ridge with my time.

Here is my heart rate chart. You can see I went into the red zone on many of the climbs, especially on Transverse Ridge. Click to enlarge.

I suppose that gave me the mental boost to drive on even harder, taking my heart rate into the 170′s, approaching my maximum heart rate. When I came across the timing line I pressed my HRM without looking, not wanting to have that knowledge affect when I was taking the split. I quickly looked down and realized that I had beak my prior best time by a single second, but seconds count. I did have to push my heart rate higher than previous, due to being 4 lbs. heavier and 1.5 years old. In any case, it gives me additional confidence for the Everest Challenge this weekend.

To prove I did not do it over some slightly shorter distance, here is tonight’s readout from my Polar HRM.

And this is the same data from last year. You will notice that tonight (above) was even a slightly longer distance measured than previous (below).