Great workout today. I waited as long as I could for the weather to warmup. It was 40 degrees when I got started under beautiful blue skies. Four mile warmup before hitting the track for a 3x1.5M interval workout. My coach told me to do a slow:fast:slow @ 7:31:7:27:7:31 with ~4 minutes rest between each repeat.
Hit the first repeat in 7:23 (4:55 pace). Oops. I knew after the first lap I was going to be fast but I felt fine so I kept pushing. Second repeat I commited to taking a bit slower. Hit it in 7:28 which was still fast but slower still. During my two laps of rest I was thinking about doing an extra repeat but wanted to see how the third one went first. Third one felt good all the way through although the last 800m I could begin to feel the muscles burn a bit. But hit 7:24 nonetheless.
I was pretty spent so I didn't commit to a fourth repeat until the second rest lap. There's a lot of mind games that go into these workouts and I was determined to prove to myself that not only could I do these alone but that I could go farther and faster than the workout proscribed.
By the fourth repeat, the wind had gone from calm to 10mph. Didn't prove to be all that big of a deal but it was noticeable. I finished the fourth repeat in 7:28. I was very pleased. There wasn't a single mile that wasn't under 5:00.
I also learned to really love the 1.5M repeat and I think it's is my favorite. I like it because it breaks up into vey manageable chunks which is important for me when I'm working out, esepcially alone. At the 800 mark you have a mile to go. After three laps you are halfway done. At four laps, you have one mile down and just a half to go. These frequent check-in points are helpful.
Grest finish to another strong and long week. | 