I really don't have a specific plan when it comes to running right now. I'm just going out with the goal of pushing myself farther and harder. Today I had planned to do intervals - a more structured version of fartleks. I just had to get that word in one more post. I navigated over to the intervals workouts in my Garmin and set it for 8 sets of 1 minute running to two minutes of rest. I figured I would jog a mile to warm up and then go at the fastest speed I thought I could maintain for a full minute while still being able to jog when I had finished and then slow to a resting pace for two minutes and repeat. I figured I could do that for 24 minutes.
I did my first mile in 10:37 and then set about completing my intervals workout. After the third rep I started to question whether I would be able to complete the workout without skipping an interval. I was already having trouble recovering my breathing and my heart rate was only dropping to the mid 160s during the two minute rest phase. I kept on anyway, telling myself after each rep, "only 4 more", "only 3 more", "only 2 more", "only 1 more". I really didn't know if I was going to be able to do that last one. I had just pushed myself up the one short but challenging hill in the park when Garmin beeped that it was time to take off. I told myself that it was just one minute and took off running about as fast as I could make my legs go at that point and averaged 7:58/mile for that minute.
I pushed myself harder today than I have in a long time. I almost felt like I was back in the mid-weeks of C25K when I was having to tell myself that I only have a little further to go before I could quit. I'm hoping it all pays off in a couple of weeks.
Today's Stats: I did 3.53 miles today in 34:44 for an average pace of 9:50/mile. My one minute fast intervals ranged from a fastest pace of 7:54/mile to a slowest pace of 8:33/mile. Oddly, my first two intervals were my slowest and I generally got faster from there on.
Next Up: I'm hoping to get in a longer run this weekend. When I say long, I mean long for me. Somewhere in the 4 to 4.5 mile range would be nice. I'll also keep the pace down, probably in the mid 10's per mile. I'd also like to get to the pool on Saturday to avoid the 4 day break between swimming workouts. That's actually higher on my priority list than the long run, but doing both would be ideal.
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