Saturday, April 23, 2011

Speed work

Despite having a stressful week I managed to get in some decent workouts.

My best workout was probably Thursday night's run. I was going to skip running because Thursday evenings are so hectic between hubby's track schedule, Peanut's soccer and trying to get everything ready for the next day (homework, clothes and lunches ready for the next day, etc) but I was feeling relatively stressed and decided I should meet hubby at the gym after soccer anyway.

I started out thinking I would just run 3-4 miles but after about .25 I decided to crank up the pace and do some speedy intervals. Turns out my legs and lungs were completely in tune with my plan because I managed to get 3 miles of speed work done in under 26 minutes!

3 miles 25:19 8:26 min/mile

I was so happy to log this run! Usually I hate intervals/speed work but this one was great. I was determined to get sub 9 min/miles and I did just that. After the first 2 miles when I was in my 10 second recovery I had almost talked myself into running the last mile comfortable and set the treadmill to 6 mph but it felt so slow and almost like I was plopping too heavy on the treadmill. So what did I do??? I cranked that baby right back up to 8 mph and finished strong!

My hammies were screaming later that evening and even more so the next morning when I got out of bed.
I suppose that means it was quite the workout and one that I needed! I have read bits and pieces about how important speed work is. I know it helps. It has helped me increase my regular running pace a lot, but I do admit to not always fitting in speed work into my running schedule.

I will be doing so once a week. I'm not at all looking to ever qualify for Boston or the like but I do have hopes to become a faster runner.

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