Thursday, January 21, 2010

Mile intervals

I met with GRC for a mile repeat workout the B-CC track. Good-sized group, split into two... the sub-5 pace milers and the sub 5:15 pace milers. I of course slotted into the 5:15 group, with Charlie Ban, Dave and Mike Cotterell(sp?). We did descending miles in 5:18, 5:12, 5:08, and I felt awesome. I haven't done that fast of a mile interval workout in... well... ever! So it might have been a bit of a shock on the body at the time, but it was certainly within my current physical capabilities.

However on the 4th mile, I followed Dave out at a 4:55(?) / Jake Klim clip, which proved to be a major mistake, as I had to drop out at the 800 mark... it was just too fast for a 4th interval, and my breathing wasn't keeping up. I felt and still feel embarassed for dropping out, but I've come to terms with the fact that the pace was indeed too fast at the time and I should have kept it at 5:08 or just slightly faster... not over 10 seconds faster! Inexperience. I should have at least finished the mile, but what's done is done... I'm happy with the workout overall, though, but it would have been nice if it ended on a higher note.

Did weights this AM with Michelle, have been inspired by her to do more core strengthening exercises. Hill run this afternoon!

3 comments:

  1. Andy,
    Look at it this way: You ran 3 solid miles and added a hard 800 at the end. That's a great workout. I think it's good to push the threshold a bit sometimes especially at the end of a hard track workout.

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  2. Don't beat yourself up. You have a good sense of your physical capabilities. As a triathlete you're well aware of the different work zones ( Tempo, V02max etc). There's no sense in working harder than 5:08 pace if it elicits V02max. You crossed that line and quickly corrected yourself. Sometimes its good to try to go with faster people because your VDOT may be higher than you think. But when you do bite off more than you can chew, its better to adjust your pace rather than gut it out and risk an overtraining injury.

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