Faster 5K: Week 1, Day 2

I took the routine outside this morning.  I had planned a run at the park.  I drove over to the park yesterday to make sure the snow had melted sufficiently to run and everything looked okay from my perspective at the gate.  I didn't bother getting out of the car and walking the hundred or so yards to the edge of the first hill to see what awaited me there.  I did my warm up walk around the parking lot without a thought about the possibility of the road through the park still being completely snow covered, but as I began my run and approached that first downhill section it became obvious that my run was going to be limited to the parking area.  From the edge of the parking lot for as far as the road was visible, it was still snow covered.  I didn't want to fall, so I stayed in the parking lot.  I did more laps than I counted.  Probably close to 30. 

My plan had me running 1 minute at a 10 minute mile pace and 1:30 at a 12 minute mile pace.  My fast segments were closer to 9:30 and my slow segments were in the 11:30-12 range.  I thought when I first started out that there would be no way I was going to maintain that pace, but I did.  I did the whole routine as I had designed it (15 reps of 1 minute fast, 1:30 slow) with the exception of skipping the fast run on the 11th repetition.  I was pleased with my pace, and knew I was going to be happy with my time and distance when I finished.  It's because of this that I highly suspect our treadmill of being way off. 

Overall, it was a bit boring running around and around and around the parking lot, but it's a pretty park, and there were ducks, so I didn't get too bored.  The constant pace changes kept me from getting too bored also.  It didn't seem like a 38 minute run, though I was exhausted when my Garmin gave me the "workout complete" jingle.

Today's Stats:  3.45 miles in 37:30 for a pace of 10:52.  That's both my longest distance and my fastest pace ever beating my previous fastest of 11:04 (only a 2.35 mile run) by 12 seconds per mile.  Now I'm really looking forward to my next 5K.

Next Up:  I'm hoping to get back into a swimming routine tomorrow evening and Faster 5K week 1 day 3 will be Wednesday.