"Be fit" level 7, session 6: VO2 max intervals

Training session 6: VO2 max intervals

So today was the first run with red section of this training plan: VO2 max intervals which had 2 times 4 minutes in yellow + 1 minute in red and 4 minutes blue for rest between the sets.

Today I applied a bit of water to my ski before putting the HR belt on. And I did not have any issues with HR readings. Let's see if moisturizing of skin will prevent future issues with HR readings.

I felt rather good during the session. But, running index does not reflect this... Well, I have not monitored the running index of interval sessions. And the warm up phase was rather short as well (3 min blue + 3 min green) - I have usually had at least 10 minutes of warm up before intervals, so comparing to old data might not be sensible.

The intervals itself felt reasonably easy to perform: first 4 minutes yellow, HR average 168 (max 174), pace: 5:31 (max 5:10), distance 0.71 km, cadence 89 (max 91). This was followed by 1 minute red run: HR average 178 (max 184), pace 4:13 (max 3:58), distance 0.24 km, cadence 92 (max 94).
The work phase was followed by 4 minute recovery in blue zone. I kept jogging slowly and managed to bring my HR down to ~140 bpm.

The second repetition of intervals was also reasonably easy to perform. Stats for yellow: HR 165 (max 174), pace 5:41 (max 5:16), distance 0.70 km, cadence 88/91.
During the second (and last) red phase I went all in before the end of phase. That resulted slightly higher stats for the phase: HR 180 (max 189), pace 4:00 (max 3:37), distance 0.25 km, cadence 94/97
The maximum HR 190 was recorded a few seconds after the red zone ended. It indicates that I was able to keep up the effort till the end of red zone.

Session	Duration plan/actual	HR avg/max	Distance Polar/GPS	Pace avg/max	Run index	Cadence avg/max	miCoach score %
6. VO2max intervals	30:00/31:38	153/190	4.58/4.91	6:54/3:37	45	81/98	76%
5. Green 45 min	55:00/1:08:01	149/163	7.80/9.04	7:37/5:18	49	85/91	67%
4. Blue recovery	45:00/48:48	139/153	6.00/6.32	8:00/6:49	49	81/90	81%
3. Green 40 min	50:00/55:03	151/163	7.81/7.98	7:05/5:24	48	84/89	89%
2. Yellow intervals	29:00/31:28	149/171	4.52/4.68	7:05/4:28	48	81/95	55%
1. Green 40 min	50:00/59:17	145/163	8.2/8.55	7:08/5:27	49	81/90	81%

For some reason my RS800CX and Polar ProTrainer are giving a little bit different numbers. Like maximum pace is reported to be 3:37 in the watch but "only" 3:42 in the ProTrainer. I'll use the numbers from watch here as I think they are more accurate: ProTrainer is re-calcualting them based on data from 1s samples collected.

Weather was quite good: temperature +3°C, no wind
Clothing: T-shirt, 2 x long sleeve shirt, track suite, ski hat. Good.

Next sessions during the week

I should have rest day on Friday (Well, actually 15 minutes of strength and flexibility) and then sessions on Saturday/Sunday. But I actually would like to have free day on Sunday(s), so I think I'll take the Blue recovery session tomorrow instead of Sunday... But let's see how I feel tomorrow morning, if I'm tired I might skip that session all together.

Happy running,
Gert