Evaluation #3

My aerobic capacity is more or less back where it was at my best last year, achieving 601 heart beats per km during my third 5 mile evaluation run this evening. My best last year was 600 Hb/km on 29th March - so i'm a month ahead. I did get down to 599 Hb/km on 9th August during the early stages of my low(er) volume speedwork preparation for my HM PB and the build up to Dublin. I'll probably complete another evaluation a week before Connemara at the end of March. and see if there's any improvement.

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As my HR monitor took a while to settle down during the last evaluation on 31st January I warmed up over the 5 mile run from home to the Track (I cadged a lift home) and after a short stretching routine headed straight into the 20 laps of the track, making sure to get my HR up to 140 before crossing the start line. My HR dropped from time to time as I took my eye off the Garmin when chatting to clubmates as we passed each other - that's why i'm concentrating on the number of heart beats per km as opposed to pace. Given the erratic nature of my recorded HR during my 2nd evaluation I am ignoring it and focusing on the improvement from my first evaluation on 10th January. Some of my improvement is due to weight loss - about 1.5 kg since my last evaluation. My recovery to 120 BPM of 33 seconds is a marginal improvement on the 35 seconds recorded on 10th January.

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