When to switch training intensity

I see what you did there!

Lunchtime run today, my long 22km route. first 10km was my now familiar easy pace, arount 5:10 per km with HR below 140. I then thought I would put in 1km at IM pace, so upped to 4:40, didnā€™t feel particularly hard, as as each km ticked off, I just maintained that pace, then upped the pace to 4:20 for final KM. HR was completely even around 152BPM (excluding the final km). Overall HR was 146, just under 80% of run was in Z1 and Z2 and average pace was 4:50/km.

This was a confidence boosting run; itā€™s all well and good running at low intensity, but there is a little voice in my head saying ā€œthis is great, but can you still add some paceā€ - I now know that the pace is still there.

I did a similar run on the same route 11 months ago, similar pace, however, that run was solidly in Z4 with an Average HR of 162

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Definition question, not specifically for Matt:
When quoting IM pace, are you quoting run pace, or total elapsed pace including any walk breaks?

I like how you refrain from saying ā€˜lunch hourā€™ :smile:

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for me total elapsedā€¦ although not taken any walks other than walking feed stations

Its quiet in the office, and I came in early

I thought the same!
I think Iā€™ve done 18k or so over lunch before, but I was definitely running pretty fast to try and ā€œget it doneā€. When you factor in getting changed before, plus shower and changing after, even 90mins is easily 2hrs away from the desk.

Personally, Iā€™d be quoting the pace when I was running. My walk break tactic was 20s roughly every 3k, so most km splits are not impacted by the walking. Thatā€™s what I practised in training anyway, but on raceday it was just walking through whichever aid station best aligned with that kind of gap