Week 2 - 10K Training - Introducing Intervals

Well, I am still pretty much on plan, with some minor modifications.

Monday and Tuesday's runs were cut short because I had just a limited time to work out (I do these during my lunch hour). It seems to get a full run and full strength training session in with shower it takes me about 2 full hours. I try to block out the time, but sometimes meetings run long and other meetings get scheduled in.

So Monday's 3 mile run was just 1.5 miles on the treadmill with a full regimen of weights. I figured I would rather cut short the run than the weights, and ran just long enough to warm up for the weights. I felt tired on Monday - the weights seemed heavier than last week.

On Tuesday, I had to cut my 3.5 mile run short to 2.25 miles in order to make a rescheduled meeting. About 1 mile into the run it started to rain. Since it was a warm and slightly humid day, the rain actually felt great!

On Wednesday, I missed my training run. The day started with no motivation to even get out of bed and go to work. I had one thing I had to complete that day and figured I had a better shot at doing it from home, so I ended up working from home. About halfway through the day my motivation level picked up enough and I got the work done - but no run.

Thursday was the first day that went as planned. I was scheduled to run 4 miles so I set up my Podrunner to a 171 bpm mix and headed out. Instead of the usual out and back I did a different route, a sort of "around the block" run, which ended up being 4.3 miles. I ran it non-stop at a 10:41 min/mile pace. I felt great! Then hubby and I caught a comedy show for dinner.

Friday was scheduled to be a rest day but I wanted to try to make up my Wed run (as I did last week). However, it didn't work out. I was going to run after work but my boss invited me with a few others for a beer. And when the boss offers to buy you a beer...well, it is a good thing to go. So I traded my run for a beer. There is always Saturday....

Saturday is supposed to be a cross train day. I did my Wed training today instead. Today called for an 8x400 at 5K pace. I have never done interval training before. The only track that is readily available to me is the middle school track, which is too small (maybe .1 miles around). But I have my handy Garmin so I figured I would try to program in an interval training session. I set it up for .25 mile intervals with 2 minutes in between for walking breaks. I am terrible at knowing what pace I am keeping, so I figured I would run it comfortably hard using a 175 bpm podrunner mix.

I started with a 1 mile warmup run which I ran very easy at 11:15 pace. Then when I was ready I hit the lap key and off I went. I took a brisk pace, keeping my pace at 175 bpm with a good stride - something I thought felt like a 5K pace (though I did feel like I couldn't sustain that pace for 3.1 miles). At .25 miles it beeped at me and I began my walking break.

I should note that I decided to wear my contacts for the run vs my glasses...and I forgot that my 45 year old eyes can't see the small print on my Garmin very well when I do that.

As I started to walk I saw a pop up window say something about the lap button, so I hit the lap button and it started the next interval....yikes. Ok, I can run two intervals back to back since it is the first two. After the second interval, I figured out that if I just leave the watch alone, it goes right to the timed break, then beeps before my next interval.

After about 5 or 6 intervals I was feeling pretty winded. I was determined to keep the pace up during the interval and use the walking breaks to catch my breath.

When I got to what I thought was the last interval, I started to run again and after about a minute looked at the watch and saw it counting UP instead of showing the distance left to the end of my interval. It was then I realized that when it said 1 for the interval - it was telling me which one I was on, not how many I had left.

I walked for a bit, then did a slow warm down run home for about .8 miles.

Overall, I enjoyed the workout. When I downloaded the numbers it was surprising to see what I had done:

Lap / distance / time / avg pace

Lap 1 (warmup): 1.02 miles, 11:24 min
Lap 2: .25 miles, 2:11, 8:47 min/mi
Lap 3 (hit the lap button): 53 ft, 8 sec
Lap 4: .25 miles, 2:17, 9:10 min/mi
Lap 5: .13 miles, 2 min
Lap 6: .25 miles, 2:02 min, 8:08 min/mi
Lap 7: .12 miles
Lap 8: .25 miles, 2:04 min, 8:18 min/mi
Lap 9: .13 miles
Lap 10: .25 miles, 2:04 min, 8:18 min/mi
Lap 11: .12 miles
Lap 12: .25 miles, 2:02 min, 8:09 min/mi
Lap 13: .12 miles
Lap 14: .25 miles, 2:03 min, 8:15 min/mi
Lap 15: .12 miles
Lap 16: .25 miles, 2:07 min, 8:31 min/mi
Lap 17: .11 miles
Lap 18 (warm down): .81 miles, 9:14 min, 11:20 min/mi

Total: 4.69 miles, 51:41 minutes, 11 min/mi
AHR: 160 bpm
MHR: 180 bpm

I felt like I was a bit fast, but not that fast! That was not my 5K pace at all - my best 5K was at a pace of 9:38 min/mi. I guess I will need to adjust. Perhaps someday I will run a 5K at that pace :-)

Tomorrow's long run is supposed to be 6 miles. I am going to make it an easy run after today's hard workout.

In interesting training week, indeed!