This is my first non-hill interval workout on the road. I wanted to do 8x800m @ 3:15 since my goal pace for the marathon is 3:15. I met with Allison in SF and it was windy, but we warmed up toward the non windy side of town.
I did about a mile before meeting up with Allison, then we warmed up another .76, then started the intervals.
This is where a GPS watch is so useful. I just have the lap pace in the big window and make sure that is 6:30 or better.
1 - 3:14 (felt hard but like had to hold back to not overdo the first one)
We stopped and stretched after the first one, and jogged 2 minutes, then
2 - 3:08 felt much better than first one, fast because going downhill on Scenic Drive
3 - 3:12, felt good and like was still holding back
4 - 3:14, felt good but now starting to work to keep pace
5 - 3:16, had a hard time snapping into the fifth interval, so my pace was off on the first half and ran a significant negative split to close the gap, ran up the hill from river bottoms to upper SF neighborhoods during rest between 5 and 6
6- 3:14, was still cresting the hill by the time it was time to start this interval so had a little bit of uphill and I didn't feel quite rested, but felt better in the 1/2 half of the interval.
7 - 3:06, felt good
8 - 3:08 still felt good!
So I felt good about the workout overall. I need to work on starting my middle intervals faster, but only went over my target of 3:15 once and that was by one second. I guess next time (perhaps in two weeks) I will be doing 10x800m on the road. | 