Interval Training In The Cold

Oh my goodness does interval training hurt. I am so glad it is out of the way until next Monday, even though I’m thinking about adding another session Friday or Saturday. Hopefully, I can come up with some excuses not to do it. I did 10x400 again on the track, and reps four through ten were nightmares. I thought the cold weather would make it easier. I think it made it harder, or maybe I’m doing it wrong. I run 400 meters in under two minutes and fifteen seconds and then I rest for a minute – rinse and repeat. The first two reps are fun. I’m haulin’ ass. I’m thinking about my stride. I’m pumping my arms. I’m running the turns. I’m not pacing myself at all, which is dumb. I’m running as fast as is comfortable, and I finish the two reps at sub seven minute paces. That’s way too fast, but I’m from the school of “if it’s not hurting then you’re not working”. The third rep is my body figuring out what’s going on and starting to hurt in the last hundred meters. I guess I’m working now. Everything else is me hanging on for dear life. Reps four through ten are torture. I may get fifty yards into them before I want to quit. I don’t pay attention to where I am on the track or how far I have to go before rep four, and the minute break seems like a long time. Reps four and after I know exactly how far I have to go and I start getting antsy if my Garmin doesn’t start beeping to let me know I have less than fifty feet left when I KNOW that I’ve run more than a quarter mile. During the seventh rep I looked at my watch, certain that I had less than a hundred feet to go; I had 351. I almost started crying. Fortunately, interval training pays immediate dividends because if it didn’t I would not be doing it. I think this is my third session and I can run comfortably at a pace thirty seconds faster than when I added them. What’s funny is my perception. I swear my watch is cheating me out of rest time as the workout goes on. There’s no way that was a minute. That was eight seconds at the most!!!

10x400 Interval Training

Well, that wasn’t too bad. I did a lot better than I thought I was going to do. I smashed my goal times by more than a minute in eight of the ten intervals, and my slowest interval was 57 seconds ahead of the goal. I don’t want to say that I cruised through the session today, but I outperformed my expectations. I don’t know if I did it right because a quarter mile is a very short distance. Technically, it’s a sprint, and I can tough my way through it. My pacing was pretty consistent. The only real outlier was the very first interval. After that my body figured out what was going on and tried to put a stop to it. I do need to drop some pounds because my ankles, shins, and knees are a bit sore. I’m on course for my diet today and on schedule for my weight goal for the Gate River Run though. My hamstrings held up great. The last interval training I did, which were longer intervals but there were fewer of them, killed my hamstrings, even though my pace was much faster today. I guess the stretching is working. I have a new flexibility goal for the end of the year. I want to be able to get into the lotus position without using my hands. This is a lofty – borderline ridiculous – goal because I’ve never been flexible and I’ve got big thighs. Even when I was ten years old running track I could barely put my hands flat on the ground without bending my knees. Now I’ve got to open up my hammys, my quads, my knees, and my hips. I’m going to be like Jean-Claude van Damme. I finished less than 90 minutes ago so maybe I’m still on a bit of a post exercise endorphin high, but I’m excited about my upcoming races. It’s either that or I’m glad that I don’t have to do interval training for another week.