3 x Tough

I was completely undecided where to run this morning when I was pondering it last night.  I wanted to run my first speed session of this training cycle and was unsure where to do it.  I wanted to have a least a mile or maybe more for the distance.  The causeways are flat and stretch for a mile or more but they are 4 miles out the road.  This would mean a healthy warmup but a killer cooldown and time would be a factor as well.  I could take the car I suppose but for some reason I didn’t feel like it.  In town the flat stretches aren’t really flat and they’re about ¼ mile long.  So run any distance and you’ve got hills and corners.  So naturally, I decided on this.

 

And I know why I chose it but I’m not sure if it was very wise.  The main reason I chose in town is because I like to be close to home when doing these horrid workouts.  There’s something about just being down the street that provides a little comfort knowing that if I blow up, I can crawl home.  Plus doing a loop course in town means a nice central location for my water and gear.  If I was on the causeway I’d have to leave water at both ends of the interval distance.

 

Anyway, I tried to choose a loop that minimized the hills and corners as best as I could.  I wanted to end without cornering or climbing so that meant the start of the interval was straight up a hill.  Then it leveled off and rolled for a mile with some sharp ups and downs but nothing drastic.  The final .7 goes down a nice hill for ¼ mile than gradually climbs to the finish.  Normally, this grade is not even noticeable until you’re trying to run it hard.  The distance = 1.7 miles.  And it produced enough lactate to last me a few days.

 

Loop 1: 9:11 (5:25 pace)

Loop 2: 9:32 (5:37 pace)

Loop 3: 9:32 (5:37 pace)

 

I ran loop #1 way too fast.  I charged up the initial hill and then ran as hard as I could for the rest.  I slowed down quite a bit in the final stretch and was feeling poorly when I finished.  I recovered by walking, drinking water, and doing some drills (skipping, bounding, high knees etc.).  After 10 minutes, I went out again.  I wanted to go fast but found the initial hill was much harder this time.  I struggled through the loop and knew I was much slower but at least I didn’t feel quite so bad at the finish as I did during the first one.  Same recovery and then #3.  For some reason this loop was my best.  Not the fastest but I felt more in control of my pace, my arm carriage was better, and I felt all around good.  I credit even pacing for this.  I finished and felt relatively good and could have done another.  But I decided to quit while I felt decent figuring I could run myself into the ground if I wasn’t careful.

 

As you can see, speed work is not my specialty.  I don’t look forward to it, I don’t enjoy it, and I feel all wobbly when I’m done.  I’d rather run a hard 20 miler any day.

 

2.1 mile warmup / 2.1 mile cooldown.  9.3 miles total.