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| Running in circles makes me lose my tempo |
This morning I headed to the local track to run intervals. I was not looking forward to the workout, but if I wanted to improve my speed, I needed to do my homework. Conditions were good, 66° with indirect sun, so I had little excuse to take it easy. I decided to start with a few warm up laps before taking on intervals. I ended up doing a three mile tempo run, followed by 5 x 100 meter strides, run two minutes/mile faster than 10K race pace.
I was concerned that I'd be dealing with some leg fatigue after yesterday's run. Once I got going, I became confident that I'd be okay, although I was frustrated with my limited ability to hit my targeted pace. By the second mile, I was running faster. There were others on the track during the time I was there, but it never got crowded. I appreciated having the first lane to myself, with no need to shift around any walkers or slower runners.
Observations:
1. I'm still running pretty slow these days. My goal was to break 27 minutes, but I didn't succeed. However, I did run negative splits, with a 9% improvement between miles 1 and 3.
2. I was able to meet my speed target on the intervals. While these runs felt faster than the 6:54 average I recorded, the last time that I did speed work, I averaged under 6:30. Like I said, I'm still slow.
Overall, I'm pleased with this weekend's training. With a couple of tough workouts coming up this week, I feel like I'm setting up well for the competition on the 18th.
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Wow~ 6:54 for intervals! That's wonderful, ESPECIALLY after running 3 miles.
ReplyDeleteI think I should be more structured in my track work. You've inspired me (as you usually do) for tomorrow's run. :)
Thanks TPP. I know that 6:54 seems fast, but I only needed to hold that pace for 25 seconds at a time. And then you get to rest for a minute! The funny thing about speed work (for me) is that I always want to avoid it, but ultimately end up enjoying it.
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