My legs felt good waking up this morning, just a little sore from Saturday's 20 miler. I do have some dull lower back pain, I think from the 2.5 hours of trenching and sprinkler work I did Saturday. I took some Ibuprofen before my run.
I ran a variation of the hill workout I did two weeks ago. Two weeks ago I did mile long hill repeats, but I read in my Competitive Runner's Handbook that the distance for the hill repeat was too long because it makes the rest too long. So I went to the hill and figured out how to shorten it during my warm up, which works well since both ends of the hill (beginning and end) are mostly flat, so the hill becomes shorter and steeper on average by shortening. I started at 200 East and went to the Junior High sign, which is .67 or 2/3 of a mile. I wanted to go just under 7:30 pace, since 7:26 is my goal overall marathon pace, and this is uphill. That means the hill should be 5 minutes or less going up. I wanted to do 6 reps, which I knew would be mentally tough because I was on my own, and two weeks ago I did mile repeats but only three. So I decided that I would likely need a potty break somewhere in the middle so I would break up the workout into two sets of 3, thus making the workout somewhat easier but still a challenge for sure.
I got two miles of warm up in before starting the reps.
1 - 4:50 (7:16 pace).
2 - 4:50
3 - 4:51
Between rep 3 and 4 I ran 1.37, including running to a gas station for a pit stop and running to the bottom of the hill.
4 - 4:58 Let myself zone out a little in the middle. By the end of rep 4, jogging down the hill I told myself that I couldn't think about both the following reps right now, just try to do well on 5 and 6 will have to take care of itself. Legs feeling tired (my quads are feeling it, not sure if from this workout or from Saturday).
5 - 4:51 I watched my pace closely in the middle which helped me stay on track
6 - 4:49 I again watched my pace but it was horrible at the start of the rep (headed for 8 minute pace at the top of the first steep part at 300 E). I just watched my watch and didn't give up and shaved my pace down little by little. The steepest part of the hill is at the end and I pushed it up not sure if I would even break 5 minutes but pushing hard, and actually got my best time.
Overall I am pleased with the consistency of the rep times. Sure rep 4's time wasn't so great but I was happy I brought it down for 5 and 6. I am hoping my endurance at higher speeds will be improved by these types of workouts. | 