It’s taper time! I’m resting today and wishing I was running, although I just might cheat and give my son Cole a tour of the Hospital Hill 5K course he’s going to run on Friday. He’s been running with me lately, adding to his soccer fitness. Here we are at the track warming up for an interval workout last week:

He’s wearing the Skora PHASE-X, which he also wore for cross-country in the fall and track this spring. I’m in FIT, my favorite all-purpose running shoe.

I’ve been using heart rate zones with my Fenix 3 and Mio Link to regulate effort during this training cycle and I’m really pleased with the plan on Garmin Connect. I love how it loads the workout to my watch, then the details are automatic through the run. It’s especially great with intervals – automatic laps – no losing count or cheating on rest time! Here’s a shot from earlier this spring – an Easy Run:

It’s easy to check if you’re in the zone – I like to put this screen in the rotation – numbers plus a color range:

If you fall below or exceed the zone, the watch buzzes at you and displays a screen to let you know you’re out of it:

Orange says I’m above zone 2. I had my zones set pretty conservatively back in the spring – I’ve now put them back to a baseline Max HR of 179 based on my age. The watch will readjust based on your measured Max HR. It can also use your HR data to calculate a Lactate Threshold pace – very cool!

Last interval workout before Hospital Hill!