Reply To: Joel Friel test

#30741
CoachAJ
Participant

I am not exactly sure what you are asking here but I will only answer questions on the forum that will help educated everyone.

  1.  Zone 5 can be separated into zone 5a, 5b, 5c.  Considering zone 5 is anaerobic, worrying about these three zones is irrelevant.  If you are training in zone 5 then you need to look at your training (pushing too hard, zones are off, etc). It only matters that you pace the rest of your race so that you can sprint to the finish line.  Or if you can’t this is okay too as this means you left it all out on the course.
  2. If you can only achieve a higher cadence at a higher pace, this is called momentum.  You can only achieve efficient and effective running form at a VERY SLOW, EASY pace. When you can achieve running cadence at this pace repeatedly and then keep repeating it for 10,000+ repetitions this is when you are on the right path to changing old habits.
  3. Garmin watch uses estimates (and, depending on the watch, is using a wrist HR monitor to collect this data).  This is why we specifically test.  And testing takes practice (unlike estimates).  In addition, you can’t compare your LT to last year as we would expect your LT to be lower at the beginning of the season.  You know your conditioning is improving if your LT increases when tested approximately every 6-8 weeks.