Question for Jtupper regarding Rep workouts

First thing to do is check your heart rate by palpating your carotid or just put your hand under your left pectoral muscle and count it for 10 or 15 seconds after a run and compare it to what your monitor says. Don't trust the HR monitor unless you check it against palpation. Doing 300s with as much rest as you took shouldn't leave you feeling too bad. Was the rep pace at a pace you think you could race a mile at -- that's one way of arriving at rep pace. Typically, at altitude your max HR will not be as high as it is at SL. HR during submax runs will be higher at altitude (at the same pace of running), but max is usually not as high. Maybe it's just not being used to rep work yet, but check the monitor and also make sure the pace is not too fast.

I did a VO2Max test that showed I had heart palpitations after the machine slowed down at the end. I wore a Holter monitor for 24 hours and was told the palpitations were benign.

(It was showing as 220 on mine but the Holter measured the palpitations at 230 bpm. Just stand or walk until it goes away if that's the case.)

Wow thanks for the quick response Jtupper. I think I may have been too ambitious with my paces. I ran 4:33 last spring, and am shooting for ~4:20-4:24 this spring. I ran all the reps between 50-54 seconds (but in lane 2 because lane 1 was covered in snow)....so I figure maybe half a second faster at most. That converts to between 66 and 72 seconds per 400 or 4:24-4:48 per mile. The majority were done at 53. The thing is, there's no way I could run a 4:24 right now....I might be able to pull 4:40 at best with the shape I'm in (all base and tempos).....so I guess I was overextending myself there. I will check the monitor anyway though....I've had it for awhile and the battery might be starting to go.

I can't remember cause I don't have the book handy....do you recommend Rep pace to be current race pace or goal race pace? I vaguely remember it being goal race pace or current race pace minus 3 seconds per 400. So in that case I wasn't so far off. But I think it was mostly cause it was the first rep workout since last April/May. Thanks for your help though. I love your book and appreciate your presence on these boards.

Different ways to determine rep pace, but a couple, which seem different are actually often the same. Reps at goal mile pace + 3 seconds per 400, or at current mile race pace. So if your current (possibly estimated) mile ability is 4:40 then you are talking about 70 sec per 400. If your goal is 4:24 (66 pace), then adding 3 sec to that = 69, and the two produce similar paces. This may not be so close if you are in very poor shape or if your goal is very fast (possibly unreasonable sometimes). Must be realistic when using goal paces to work with.

Do you do all your recovery based on times? or only by using a heart monitor. I found that using a heart monitor , when the rate fell below 110, it still feels like I need more recovery time. I don\'t want to get into hard intervals this early.good luck with your training