Sub LT

So here we are December 16th. Just about 1 month following Clearwater. So what am I doing? Well....i ask myself that everyday...haha...no really-I've been doing a lot of sub LT work. What does that mean you ask? well, all my workouts are being done with a heart rate in my aerobic zone. NO speed work. All efforts are conversationally paced. It has been known that these types of workouts should be done in the "pre season" as they will keep you from "peaking" too early for your A race AND by strengthening your aerobic base you will be able to actually raise your LT and have maximal gains from your speed work when the time comes. So for the last month...i've been keeping my HR nice and happy. I was a little skeptical about this whole idea...we as triathletes crave those LT workouts and I knew it was going to be painfully boring to lollygag on the treadmill for an hour plus. HOWEVER--I am now convinced. I haven't even put in a full month but I already see results. My running is really coming along...I am able to sustain a much higher speed on the treadmill for a longer period of time with a much lower HR. I don't know what this means--but I do know that it is a good sign. Granted, in prep for Clearwater, I wasn't really doing too many "Long" runs...I was keeping all runs in and around the 50 min mark but I was really making each run quality...lots of tempo work. So its been a while since I've done some mindless running--however, I do know that when I was doing my 1 hr + runs in the past, I would never be able to hang in around the 8.0 setting on the tmill for the full time with a HR in my low zone 2. I am going to attribute this to sub LT work. I will update you in another few weeks or so...i am going to attempt to slowly ramp up the speed and see how my HR responds. My goal for preseason is to hang in at 7 min miles for 1 hour with a zone 2 HR. That may be aggressive for me but lets see if there is any true science to this whole running game.