Thought I'd share my DUH! moment with you guys.
In between my Sept 30 HM and the PHM, I decided to do a speed improvement plan for a 5K on 12/2. The last 5K I ran was this same 5K in Dec 2011, and it was a rough race. I've improved my speed quite a bit since then (though yeah, I'm still very slow by most runners' standards), and I thought I'd concentrate on a shorter distance and more speedwork.
I chose
Jenny Hadfield's advanced run 5K plan, since I've got a good base from a year of HM training. It has three levels of speedwork, A, B, and C, which I am following with a heart rate monitor. A was 2 minutes at 90-95% effort with a 4 minute recovery. You do this once a week for three weeks, with one extra interval each week, then move on to B, which is 3 minutes at 90-95% effort with a 3 minute recovery. I'm on the third week of B, and next week I'm supposed to move to C, which is 5 minutes with a two minute recovery.
O. M. G. Can I just say that 3 minutes of 90+% HRM is basically some kind of time-space vortex? Holy moly! I was not able to complete 3 full minutes for the third interval last week, and this week my HRM died and I was tired so I'm pretty sure I didn't quite make the 90% level. I'm looking at next week thinking "how the heck am I going to pull this off???"
I looked at it again last night and it says 5 minutes at 85-90%! Seriously, that 9 beat per minute difference (or so) is the difference between "I'm working hard" and "I'm going to die." It's the difference between "race pace" and "chased by zombies" pace (and not the slow, shambling kind of zombies either).
I've been trying to psych myself up to even try 5 minutes over 90%, being almost certain I can't accomplish it. Now that I know that I can do 5 minutes at 85% MHR, it's like, no problemo!

Before I was wondering if Jenny Hadfield was insane. Or sadistic. Or both. Now it turns out I'm done with 90%+ speedwork and am off to the races, so to speak! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?
Cate