HR, Fatigue, and Training Effect

This is a shout out to all you Exercise Phys experts.

Its a question I'm sure everyone has asked or thought about at some point training for an IM or half IM, but probably never looked any further. It crossed my mind this w/e as I struggled through a "speed set" in the pool as my third workout of the day, and at the end of a very heavy week of training and work. I was doing sets of 12x50 (25 all out, 25 easy) followed by a 200 all out. I was dead tired, but after starting I was determined I was going to finish the workout. During the workout I kept track of my HR and times. I was clearly at my LT based on my HR, but my times were VERY slow compared to what they should have been. As I struggled through, I kept wondering - am I actually getting the benefit of the workout I should be ? I was clearly working at my LT, but at the same time I was soo dead tired, I definately wasn't doing a real "speed set". So often when training for an IM we do workouts dead tired and just pushing through. So my question to the experts :

Do you still derive the benefit of pushing up your LT doing these workouts dead tired and slower than expected, but clearly at the proper HR zone ? Or are you doing more harm than good ? Or is it better to just call it quits, skip the w/o and have a nap and recover and do a better quality workout tomorrow ?

I would be interested in seeing if there is any scientific evidence - or everyones personal experience.

Arizona Roadkill

Well its official - roadkill season has started !! In comparison to London the number of animals on the road is much lower (no raccoons here !!) but definately much more interesting - or exotic. Intially I saw a few small VERY dead snakes and other small animals. But they were very far and few between. At first I was very interested and excited when I came apon something new and exotic. A few weeks ago I saw a VERY dead Gila Monster. I felt sad for him.

In the last two days however, things have really picked up. The animals are no longer small and cute, but big and scary. Yesterday on my ride I came across a dead pitt bull. It was sad. He obviously had just been hit recently, and luckily it wasn't gross. It just looked like he was sleeping. Later in the ride I saw one of the scariest things I have seen in real life - a giant 6 foot long black king snake. I was lucky not to hit him. He was in the bike lane right at the end of a 4 hour ride, and I was tired, and just managed to avoid it after riding with my head down. At first I thought he was dead, but after turning around to take a closer look, I realized he was still very much alive. I quickly made a quick 180 and got the hell out of there.

Today I came across two very cool of AZ finest. At the start of my ride I came across a Gila Moster trying to cross the road at about a half a mile an hour. Without getting too close I managed to scare him back into the desert and save his life. Good deed for the day done. I was excited to have seen one, as they are very rare, and few people who live here for years get a chance to see one - let alone save its life.

All pumped up about seening some of AZ's wildlife upclose and personal I kept my eyes peeled to see the "urban legend" Javalina. Unfortunately no dice. I did however stumble across the biggest snake I have ever seen. It was about 7 feet long, and about as thick as my arm. Luckily it was dead - but just. It must have just been hit minutes before. Had I been just a few minutes earlier, I would have found myself screaming down the road at 35km/h staring at a giant snake and no where to go.

I quickly changed my mind. I am happy to not see anymore of AZ wildlife upclose and personal - especially since I still have yet to see a rattle snake, scorpion, giant millipeed, africanized bees, bob cats or cougers, ....