Physical Testing for the run

Don’t just sleep-walk through your training. If you are putting in the time, yes you should be getting faster and more fit, but it is important (not to mention gratifying) to have the stats to prove it.  A great test is to do a run on the track at a set heart rate (typically an aerobic HR) and record your pace/mile (1mile = 4 laps of a 400 m track). Make sure to get in a good warm up and roll straight into the test without letting your HR fall.  2-3 miles of warm up and a 6-12 mile test.  Then, do the exact same test again in a month or two, trying to keep variables like fatigue and weather as consistent as possible.  It is super exciting when you see that those split times don’t slow down so much and you find that you can hold a faster pace at your aerobic HR.