Today's workout called for 5 miles plus 1 x 8 second hill sprint. I went a different route than normal tonight and the course worked out to be mostly flat. Something like 150' elevation change. As a result, my per mile time dropped a lot. I went from a relaxed and comfortable 6 miles yesterday at almost 9 minute miles to 8:30 per mile today. I think that on this course a medium effort might be 8:20-8:15 and a fast effort would be MP (8:00). My hill sprint ended up being longer than 8 seconds. I tried the 8 second version but it seems like I barely get started and the workout is over. Almost anticlimactic and certainly unsatisfying. I expect a good heart pounding, leg burning, gasping for breath effort if I'm going to spring up a hill. The hill was 15% grade and the sprint was 6:03 per mile pace, which I feel pretty good about. It will be interesting when the hill sprints become multiples instead of one single effort. | 