One of the big keys to making these workouts a success is getting up early. Kelley needed to be at work by late morning, so we agree to meetup at 8 AM at the Nor-Bath Trail. That is fairly close to both of us. I was certainly beat when I arrived. I was at a dirt track race last night and didn't get to bed until after 2 AM. I had less than 5 hours of sleep.
I wanted to do some strides and drills beforehand, but the grass was still wet. I was also worried about injuring myself some more. My body is already quite beat up. The weather was perfect for this run. We couldn't have asked for better conditions. Since I had some chafing issues over the weekend, I've been running without a shirt. However, it was so cold when the run began that I opted not to do that. I ran instead with my BCR singlet. I ended up with some minor chafing again by the end of the run.What a difference a week makes, and perhaps having a training partner. I struggled last week, but felt great today. You can tell a lot how the run will go by the first repeat. The plan today was to up the half mile repeats from 7 to 8. I felt great after the first one, it almost seemed to easy. Although I hit my goal last week, every rep was a struggle.
Kelley and I switched off leading repeats again. I liked being behind two weeks ago, but for some reason struggled with it today. Kelley's watch wasn't working right, so I had to inform her when to start and stop when she was leading the way. I also had to let her know if we needed to change the pace. She's getting pretty good with knowing pace now just on feel and I don't have to correct her much. I felt much better leading than following today, but oh well.
The thing that does suck is how the Garmin pace can be all over the place early on in a rep. At one point, it would say a 7:30 pace then all of a sudden it drops to 6:45. One interval said 8 minute pace and another under 6 minute pace when both were around a 7 minute pace. Eventually they all evened out, although I don't think the 6 minute paced interval was ever quite right.
We timed out the road crossing fairly well. During our 4th interval we had to speed across the street. Luckily there were no cars coming, especially because I didn't even look when crossing the road. I just followed Kelley like a deer. We made sure to turn around after finishing that one up, so we'd cross the road at a slow recovery speed.
I really like these half mile intervals. They are challenging for sure, but they are short enough that I can just battle through them. The recovery seems like it is over fairly quickly, but I do feel like I am getting enough rest. I'm not sure with Kelley. She seems to be breathing heavy after each interval. She keeps hammering away though. I definitely ran under 7 minute pace for each interval and I think she might've too. If not, she just missed it on the final one or two.
Now that we are up 8 intervals, it does seem like a lot. It isn't that I can't handle it, it is just that it seems like forever. It took awhile to complete 4 intervals and we still had 4 more to go. I will say that it goes much faster once we get to the second half of the workout. I'm not sure I want to do more than 10 intervals. We might switch to mile repeats soon.
Since I was feeling quite strong and enjoying leading, I took charge of both of the last two intervals. I had something left, so I wanted to up the pace. I did fade down the stretch of the 7th interval, but most of it was under a 6:30 pace. Kelley certainly struggled with this speed and fell back a bit. The same thing happened on the final interval as well. I didn't push quite as much on that last repeat, but I did battle through it. It was tough, but I knew I was almost done. I still completed that rep with a 6:44 pace, even after my legs were screaming.
Kelley said she felt like she was holding me back. While I might be able to go a little faster, the goal is the hit a 7 minute pace and extend it for a long distance. If that is a bit easy than that's fine. What I can keep doing is pushing the last interval or two. It will help me finish strong at the end of the race. I think these workout will help me chase my half marathon PR.
Kelley had a big PR gain over the weekend at a 5k. She's around 21:30 right now, which is much better than me. She seems to sustain a slightly slower pace over a longer distance than I can, but I'm able to get to a higher top end speed during these shorter intervals. I also seem to recover quite well. Even after the good race, I still can't convince her that she can break 20 minutes for a 5k down the road. I keep thinking I'll get faster than her, but I don't know. She keeps getting better and better and I think the speedwork is a big help. She has a lot of potential.
It was nice finishing up with over a mile of easy running. We get some good chatting done during that as well as the warmup. We can finally enjoy the trail too. It was quite crowded today. There was a good mix of runners, bikers and walkers.
Not every run is great, but I seem to be doing well with these intervals. I know they are making me stronger. They aren't killing me either. My legs actually feel great too and aren't sore at all. I'm thrilled with my continued progress.
I was reading up on Yasso 800s yesterday. It is interesting because they say that whatever pace you run for 10 intervals predicts what you could do in a marathon, taking into account that you are doing long runs of the necessary distance. For our workout we are running the 3:25 range for each interval. That would come out to a 3:25 marathon. If I had more endurance, I don't think that is too much of a stretch. I'll have to see how accurate that is in the future.
Tomorrow is the regular group run with the LVRR. I have to check my schedule again, but I think I might add another mile to the usual route and get to 6 miles. I have to look closer at what I have planned. The idea is to run 42 miles this week after 40 last week. Not too much of a mileage gain. Mileage gains from here on out will be minimal from week to week.
8 miles - 1:03:33 (7:57 pace)
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