Yesterday, Sunday, I was scheduled to run 14.5 miles. I was also scheduled to be on an airplane or sitting around in an airport all day, starting at 8:30 p.m. Saturday night Hawaii time and continuing until 5:40 p.m. Sunday evening Eastern time (a six-hour difference; it was "just" 11:40 a.m. Hawaii time).
So I decided to put the run off until this morning. Chad said he'd join me, even after I told him that 9 of those 14.5 miles would be at my projected marathon pace of 7:50 per mile. What I didn't tell him is that an additional 10 minutes, or roughly a mile and a half, would be at tempo pace, 7:00 per mile. The plan was to run a two mile warm-up, then marathon pace (MP) for 40, 20, and 10 minutes, with 5-minute tempo-pace runs between each MP stretch, and a two-mile cool-down.
The first seven miles were uneventful, though we were both breathing fairly hard towards the end of the first MP stretch. Splits for those miles were 8:56, 8:50, 7:43, 7:43, 7:44, 7:44, 7:38. Near the beginning of Mile 7, we passed a park that we both hadn't seen before, and we agreed that we'd turn around at the end of the Mile 7, then do our 5-minute tempo and stop at the park to check it out.
When we got to the 7 mile turnaround, I noticed that we could see a greenway from the road and figured it must be part of the park, so I charged onto the trail at tempo pace and Chad followed behind, probably figuring I was crazy. But the trail petered out after a quarter-mile or so, and we jumped back out onto the road. I started up the road the wrong way and Chad had to turn me around. By the time I was headed the right direction I looked down at my GPS and saw a 9:45 average pace. Oops! We were only a couple minutes into the tempo, so I hoped we'd be able to make up some of the time, but a 7:00 pace for 5 minutes now seemed impossible. By the end of five minutes we'd managed to improve the pace to 7:19, which wasn't bad considering we'd nearly gotten lost and all.
We walked for a minute or two to catch our breath, then started on the next MP stretch. This was definitely more of a struggle. Chad suggested we run through Jetton Park (since we knew it was a one-mile loop) and stop at the bathrooms/water fountain for our break after the tempo phase. That sounded good to me. But after 20 minutes at MP (7:44, 7:46, 7:40), we were a little too close to the bathrooms to get a full 5-minute tempo run. Game-time decision, just stop at the bathroom anyways. I managed a 6:53 pace for 3:17, or just under a half a mile.
Now all that was left was a 10-minute MP stretch. We ran the first mile at 7:55 pace, a little slow, but that also meant there were just two minutes to go. Somehow I ended up running that little stretch at a 7:19 pace. We slowed to a 9-minute pace and headed home, 3 miles away. For me, this was the hardest part of the run, and having Chad there really helped get me through it. Our "easy" cool down was 9:13, 8:56, 8:46, and I'm sure I would have stopped to walk for a bit if Chad hadn't been there. We finished up at the CVS, where I bought a liter of Gatorade and guzzled it down. Normally I don't care much for Gatorade but today it felt like the most refreshing treat I've had in a long time.
Details of today's run are below:
Monday, August 15, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
The last run in Hawaii
Not much to report. Beautiful, sunny weather, about 72 degrees. Mauna Kea fully visible in the distance. Waves crashing in on lovely lava-rock beaches. 10.8 miles, 8:36 pace. Tonight I fly back to the mainland and its soul-crushing heat and humidity.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Hill work
Today was supposed to be a relatively easy day -- 8 miles or so, at a 9:00 pace. As it turned out, from that perspective I didn't do very well: I ran just 5.29 miles at an average pace of 11:08 per mile.
I'm staying at a place called "Cliff House" on the island of Hawaii, almost 1,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean. We're next to the Waipio Valley, and we can see 1,500-foot cliffs on the other side of the valley, looming over the Pacific. I took a look at the Google Map of the road we're on and noticed that it continues about a mile and a half to the town of Waipio, so I decided to run in that direction first to see what the end of the road looked like, and then to finish the run by backtracking and running along the highway we arrived on, which is basically a flat road running along the top of the cliffs on this side.
After about 200 meters, I realized that this was not going to be an ordinary run. Large signs warned that the road was "4WD ONLY! No AWD!" I headed down the hill and encountered at "25% grade" sign. That's pretty steep. The road wound down the side of a cliff, and soon I had stunning views of the valley below. I could see that my route back was going to be a little tougher than I bargained for. Okay, a lot tougher. I didn't have a camera with me, but later in the day I convinced my traveling companions to walk down the road, and here's a photo Pat took:
It was steep enough that I couldn't really run down it; what I did was more like skip down the hill, landing lightly on one foot and then heavily on the other. The road ran on and on, much farther than I thought it should. Even on this "easy" downhill section, all I managed for Mile 1 was a 12:11 pace.
Finally I arrived at the bottom of the hill and continued on for about a half mile on a flat but rough road. I looked up for a minute and was rewarded with the site of what I later learned was a 1,200-foot waterfall. Again, the photo is courtesy of Pat:
I got to run along below the falls for a quarter-mile or so, but eventually the road ran across a river, with a ford that looked to be at least 18 inches deep. Given that I'd soon be running back up that very steep hill, I decided to avoid getting my feet wet and turned around.
Before I knew it, I was at the base of the hill. My pace for Mile 2 had been 10:23, still slower than the ideal, but given the rough road and the distraction of the fantastic view, not terrible. I started up the hill at a 14:00 pace. Amazingly, a cyclist was ahead of me. Would he make it up the entire hill? Nope, he stopped about 200 yards in, and soon a pickup truck came by and drove him the rest of the way. I kept running. This photo, again courtesy of Pat, gives you some sense of what it was like going up:
I passed two hikers who were on the way down, and they seemed impressed that I was attempting to run up this hill. Meanwhile, I was gasping for breath. Finally, after 5 minutes of climbing, I took a walk-break. I gave myself a minute, then launched back into a run. After another 4 minutes, I was back to walking, this time for two minutes. I took off running again, and just a minute and a half later, I was at the top. I was glad to have made it, but disappointed that I had taken the second break so close to the top. Still, I took another walk-break at the top. My average pace for Mile 3: 15:25, including the walk-breaks. Back on level (or nearly-level) ground, I decided this run was tough enough that I didn't need to do the full 8 miles. I cut things off at Mile 5.29 after running at a 9:05 and 9:14 pace for miles 4 and 5.
Now that I've actually run this hill, I think tomorrow I'm going to give it another shot. The goal: Run the entire 850 vertical feet without a walk-break. I'll let you know if I make it. I'll leave you with one more image: The elevation profile of today's run.
Oh, all right, here's one more image:
I started at the green marker, then proceeded to the left -- I think the hill is fairly obvious. That's quite a run! Details of today's run are below.
I'm staying at a place called "Cliff House" on the island of Hawaii, almost 1,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean. We're next to the Waipio Valley, and we can see 1,500-foot cliffs on the other side of the valley, looming over the Pacific. I took a look at the Google Map of the road we're on and noticed that it continues about a mile and a half to the town of Waipio, so I decided to run in that direction first to see what the end of the road looked like, and then to finish the run by backtracking and running along the highway we arrived on, which is basically a flat road running along the top of the cliffs on this side.
After about 200 meters, I realized that this was not going to be an ordinary run. Large signs warned that the road was "4WD ONLY! No AWD!" I headed down the hill and encountered at "25% grade" sign. That's pretty steep. The road wound down the side of a cliff, and soon I had stunning views of the valley below. I could see that my route back was going to be a little tougher than I bargained for. Okay, a lot tougher. I didn't have a camera with me, but later in the day I convinced my traveling companions to walk down the road, and here's a photo Pat took:
 |
| Yeah, that's kind of steep! |
It was steep enough that I couldn't really run down it; what I did was more like skip down the hill, landing lightly on one foot and then heavily on the other. The road ran on and on, much farther than I thought it should. Even on this "easy" downhill section, all I managed for Mile 1 was a 12:11 pace.
Finally I arrived at the bottom of the hill and continued on for about a half mile on a flat but rough road. I looked up for a minute and was rewarded with the site of what I later learned was a 1,200-foot waterfall. Again, the photo is courtesy of Pat:
 |
| Yep, totally worth it! |
I got to run along below the falls for a quarter-mile or so, but eventually the road ran across a river, with a ford that looked to be at least 18 inches deep. Given that I'd soon be running back up that very steep hill, I decided to avoid getting my feet wet and turned around.
Before I knew it, I was at the base of the hill. My pace for Mile 2 had been 10:23, still slower than the ideal, but given the rough road and the distraction of the fantastic view, not terrible. I started up the hill at a 14:00 pace. Amazingly, a cyclist was ahead of me. Would he make it up the entire hill? Nope, he stopped about 200 yards in, and soon a pickup truck came by and drove him the rest of the way. I kept running. This photo, again courtesy of Pat, gives you some sense of what it was like going up:
 |
| Actually it felt a LOT steeper than this |
I passed two hikers who were on the way down, and they seemed impressed that I was attempting to run up this hill. Meanwhile, I was gasping for breath. Finally, after 5 minutes of climbing, I took a walk-break. I gave myself a minute, then launched back into a run. After another 4 minutes, I was back to walking, this time for two minutes. I took off running again, and just a minute and a half later, I was at the top. I was glad to have made it, but disappointed that I had taken the second break so close to the top. Still, I took another walk-break at the top. My average pace for Mile 3: 15:25, including the walk-breaks. Back on level (or nearly-level) ground, I decided this run was tough enough that I didn't need to do the full 8 miles. I cut things off at Mile 5.29 after running at a 9:05 and 9:14 pace for miles 4 and 5.
Now that I've actually run this hill, I think tomorrow I'm going to give it another shot. The goal: Run the entire 850 vertical feet without a walk-break. I'll let you know if I make it. I'll leave you with one more image: The elevation profile of today's run.
 |
| Mile 4-5 would ordinarily be a fairly major hill! |
Oh, all right, here's one more image:
 |
| The guts of the run, from above |
I started at the green marker, then proceeded to the left -- I think the hill is fairly obvious. That's quite a run! Details of today's run are below.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Could it be...the best run, ever?
The day started with a jolt: My phone beeping to announce an incoming text message at 5:45 a.m. Naturally it was spam. But now I was up, and I needed to get 10 miles in, so I put on shorts and a shirt, grabbed a granola bar, and headed outside to the deck to put on my shoes. It was raining.
But when you're in a tropical rainforest in Hawaii at an elevation of 4,000 feet, these things don't bother you much. The forest was alive with the sounds of chirping birds, and the tree ferns swayed in a gentle breeze. One of the most surreal things about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is the fact that it's actually in a rainforest. You see pictures of barren, desolate landscapes and you forget that it's on a tropical island.
I took off running into the misty morning, pulling my hat brim low to try to keep the cool droplets from fogging my glasses. I needed to keep up a 9-minute pace, which I expected wouldn't be too difficult, even at this altitude. I was still a bit sore from hiking the day before, though, and the first couple miles were a struggle. We were staying about two miles from the park entrance, and this part of the run was along a fairly major highway. Fortunately it was still early, so the cars that whizzed by perilously close were it least separated by a couple minutes.
Finally I reached the park, and hopped onto the crater rim trail. The fog was beginning to lift, and within a few minutes I was transported to a completely different landscape. There were still a few tree ferns to my right, but to the left might as well have been the Grand Canyon.
In the distance I could see the active crater, sort of a sub-crater of the main Kilauea volcano. Steam poured out at a prodigious rate. Then I rounded the corner and the shield of Mauna Loa came into full view, rising more than a mile above me and two and a half miles above sea level.
Was that a rainbow? It was, and it stretched from Mauna Loa right into the active crater. Simply gorgeous.
A fellow runner passed going the opposite direction. I resisted the urge to tell him to turn around and experience the sight I was seeing.
I ran towards the rainbow for nearly a mile, until it gradually faded from view. I reached the halfway point of my run just at the point where the trail was closed, the Jagger Museum. Past that point, the trail passed through the steam plume of the crater, with its deadly sulfur dioxide emissions.
I turned around and headed home into a brisk wind. The sun was just coming into view over the bank of clouds that hovered above the rainforest. The crater still extended off to my right. After another mile or so, I heard the honking of geese, and looked up. Perhaps 15 feet over my head soared two endangered Nene geese, the endangered state bird of Hawaii. I had been looking for nenes for the past week, but this was the first time I had actually managed to see them. They were beautiful birds, and I literally pumped my fist in excitement.
After they flew out of sight, I turned around and saw the rainbow again come into view over the crater.
In a few minutes, the runner I had seen before passed me going the opposite direction. He smiled and we exchanged knowing glances, confident that few others would ever see what we had seen that morning.
I couldn't stop smiling as I ran back to the rental cottage to get ready for the rest of my day.
But when you're in a tropical rainforest in Hawaii at an elevation of 4,000 feet, these things don't bother you much. The forest was alive with the sounds of chirping birds, and the tree ferns swayed in a gentle breeze. One of the most surreal things about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is the fact that it's actually in a rainforest. You see pictures of barren, desolate landscapes and you forget that it's on a tropical island.
I took off running into the misty morning, pulling my hat brim low to try to keep the cool droplets from fogging my glasses. I needed to keep up a 9-minute pace, which I expected wouldn't be too difficult, even at this altitude. I was still a bit sore from hiking the day before, though, and the first couple miles were a struggle. We were staying about two miles from the park entrance, and this part of the run was along a fairly major highway. Fortunately it was still early, so the cars that whizzed by perilously close were it least separated by a couple minutes.
Finally I reached the park, and hopped onto the crater rim trail. The fog was beginning to lift, and within a few minutes I was transported to a completely different landscape. There were still a few tree ferns to my right, but to the left might as well have been the Grand Canyon.
In the distance I could see the active crater, sort of a sub-crater of the main Kilauea volcano. Steam poured out at a prodigious rate. Then I rounded the corner and the shield of Mauna Loa came into full view, rising more than a mile above me and two and a half miles above sea level.
Was that a rainbow? It was, and it stretched from Mauna Loa right into the active crater. Simply gorgeous.
A fellow runner passed going the opposite direction. I resisted the urge to tell him to turn around and experience the sight I was seeing.
I ran towards the rainbow for nearly a mile, until it gradually faded from view. I reached the halfway point of my run just at the point where the trail was closed, the Jagger Museum. Past that point, the trail passed through the steam plume of the crater, with its deadly sulfur dioxide emissions.
I turned around and headed home into a brisk wind. The sun was just coming into view over the bank of clouds that hovered above the rainforest. The crater still extended off to my right. After another mile or so, I heard the honking of geese, and looked up. Perhaps 15 feet over my head soared two endangered Nene geese, the endangered state bird of Hawaii. I had been looking for nenes for the past week, but this was the first time I had actually managed to see them. They were beautiful birds, and I literally pumped my fist in excitement.
After they flew out of sight, I turned around and saw the rainbow again come into view over the crater.
In a few minutes, the runner I had seen before passed me going the opposite direction. He smiled and we exchanged knowing glances, confident that few others would ever see what we had seen that morning.
I couldn't stop smiling as I ran back to the rental cottage to get ready for the rest of my day.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Running in paradise
I've arrived in Hawaii, and for the first week I'm staying here on the "Garden Isle" of Kauai. We're staying in a condo on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and a warm tropical breeze permeates the air wherever we go.
But I didn't want to let my training lag while we vacationed, so I brought half a suitcase worth of running gear, and yesterday I went out for a 15-mile run. At 6:00 a.m. it's about 75 degrees here, so it's quite a bit cooler than most mornings back home this time of year. The dew point is in the mid-60s instead of the mid-70s, and the breeze makes it even more pleasant. And it doesn't hurt to be running along one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. I'm hoping this means I won't have to slow down much from my target pace to accommodate the heat.
The plan yesterday was to run 2 easy miles, then 2 at tempo pace (7:00 miles), then 7 easy, then 2 tempo, and 2 easy, for a total of 15. "Easy" is supposed to be 9-minute miles, so I took off at that pace from our condo and headed west along the shore. I was surprised about 5 minutes in to see a family of wild (probably feral) chickens. And then another, and another, and another. Between the chickens and the dead frogs on the road (I like to call them "toad kill") I was getting a bit more nature than I bargained for. But the views were spectacular, and the miles were cruising by. I could still feel the heat, and so I didn't want to push too hard for my first tempo run, so I did these miles at 7:23 and 7:20. Four miles in, I arrived at spouting horn. I stopped for a minute to watch it blow, then headed back towards home. By the time I arrived back at the condo, my shirt was soaked through with sweat. I'd run 8 miles, and I was getting a bit tired. I refilled my water and ate a cookie to get a little carbs, left my shirt and headed back our for 7 more.
I could keep up the 9-minute pace quite easily but I wasn't sure I was going to be able to pick up the pace at all for the second tempo run. When the time came to speed up, all I could muster for the first mile was an 8:00 pace. I did slightly better for the second mile, 7:49. Then I eased back to 9-minute miles, and finally had to walk a bit between my two cool-down miles, before finally bringing it back home.
The details of today's run are below:
But I didn't want to let my training lag while we vacationed, so I brought half a suitcase worth of running gear, and yesterday I went out for a 15-mile run. At 6:00 a.m. it's about 75 degrees here, so it's quite a bit cooler than most mornings back home this time of year. The dew point is in the mid-60s instead of the mid-70s, and the breeze makes it even more pleasant. And it doesn't hurt to be running along one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. I'm hoping this means I won't have to slow down much from my target pace to accommodate the heat.
 |
| Still a bit dark, but a beautiful morning in paradise |
I could keep up the 9-minute pace quite easily but I wasn't sure I was going to be able to pick up the pace at all for the second tempo run. When the time came to speed up, all I could muster for the first mile was an 8:00 pace. I did slightly better for the second mile, 7:49. Then I eased back to 9-minute miles, and finally had to walk a bit between my two cool-down miles, before finally bringing it back home.
The details of today's run are below:
Friday, July 29, 2011
Easy -- sort of
Tomorrow I'm flying to Hawaii for a much-needed vacation, so today might be my last day to get in a solid run for a couple weeks. I'm planning on bringing all my running gear and running while I'm there, but I don't know what the conditions will be like, so there are no guarantees. My flight leaves at 11 a.m. tomorrow, so I might be able to get one last run in before I go, but again, I'm not counting on it.
So when Chas said he was looking for a running partner this morning, I decided I'd join him. Unfortunately for me, today was Chas' tempo day, while I was supposed to be taking it easy recovering from yesterday's run. I decided, since I wasn't sure what kind of quality I'd be getting in Hawaii, to go ahead and try to stay with Chas as long as I could.
We headed out at a relatively easy pace, around 8:30 miles, but this was just Chas' warm-up. After about 3/4 of a mile, he took off like a rocket, and it was all I could do to keep up. After a half-mile or so, I think Chas realized he needed to slow down a bit or he wasn't going to make it, so thankfully we settled in on a pace I could maintain a while. Mile 1 ended up at an 8:08 pace, but it was more like a quarter-mile at a 6:45 pace and the rest at 8:30.
Mile 2 was a little more reasonable (from my perspective): 7:20. But at this point it was quite clear to me that I wasn't going to be able to stay with Chas for the whole run. He was on a mission, and my mission had already been completed the day before. After another quarter-mile, I let him go and took a bit of a short-cut because I would be doing strides at the end of the loop. From here on out I just eased things back, a little slower each mile: 7:53, 8:17, 8:28. I wanted to be relatively fresh for the strides. I hit the track and couldn't remember whether I was planning 4, 6, or 8 strides. It was a no-brainer: do 4! As it turns out, I was scheduled to do 8, but I figure I got some speed work in during the first couple miles of today's run, so that's probably fine. The strides felt a little rough, probably because my legs were still a bit beat up after yesterday's tough workout. I coasted in to the finish and met up with Chas, who had had a great run, his fastest 5-mile tempo to date at a 7:30 pace. Nice job, Chas!
Details of today's workout are below:
So when Chas said he was looking for a running partner this morning, I decided I'd join him. Unfortunately for me, today was Chas' tempo day, while I was supposed to be taking it easy recovering from yesterday's run. I decided, since I wasn't sure what kind of quality I'd be getting in Hawaii, to go ahead and try to stay with Chas as long as I could.
We headed out at a relatively easy pace, around 8:30 miles, but this was just Chas' warm-up. After about 3/4 of a mile, he took off like a rocket, and it was all I could do to keep up. After a half-mile or so, I think Chas realized he needed to slow down a bit or he wasn't going to make it, so thankfully we settled in on a pace I could maintain a while. Mile 1 ended up at an 8:08 pace, but it was more like a quarter-mile at a 6:45 pace and the rest at 8:30.
Mile 2 was a little more reasonable (from my perspective): 7:20. But at this point it was quite clear to me that I wasn't going to be able to stay with Chas for the whole run. He was on a mission, and my mission had already been completed the day before. After another quarter-mile, I let him go and took a bit of a short-cut because I would be doing strides at the end of the loop. From here on out I just eased things back, a little slower each mile: 7:53, 8:17, 8:28. I wanted to be relatively fresh for the strides. I hit the track and couldn't remember whether I was planning 4, 6, or 8 strides. It was a no-brainer: do 4! As it turns out, I was scheduled to do 8, but I figure I got some speed work in during the first couple miles of today's run, so that's probably fine. The strides felt a little rough, probably because my legs were still a bit beat up after yesterday's tough workout. I coasted in to the finish and met up with Chas, who had had a great run, his fastest 5-mile tempo to date at a 7:30 pace. Nice job, Chas!
Details of today's workout are below:
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Now that's quality!
My workout plan has me running two "quality" workouts per week. I've decided to do one on Thursdays and one on Sundays. I did the first one last Sunday -- A couple of short tempo runs mixed in with some marathon-pace runs. I should say I did about half of one because I went out too fast in the heat and ended up with a bit of a death march at the end. I didn't want that to happen today.
The plan was to run 5, 3-minute intervals at a 6:45 pace, then 6, 400-meter repetitions at a 6:00 pace. I didn't want to do this on the track, so I used my Garmin to measure the intervals on the road. Given the heat I might have to slow my pace by about 15 seconds per mile but I didn't want to go much slower than that. The reason you do intervals, says Jack Daniels, is to maximize the time spent running at VO2max. Normally you can only sustain a VO2max run for a few minutes. But if you do intervals, you get up to VO2max, then take a break, then get right back up to VO2max at the next interval. Instead of spending 3 or 4 minutes at VO2max, you spend 2 minutes in each interval at VO2max, for a total of 10 minutes when you do 5 intervals. You want to recover enough after each interval that you can do the next one at the same pace, but you don't want to fully recover because that just means it takes longer to get back to VO2max.
One problem with using the "interval" feature on Garmin is it doesn't give you much information. It tells you how much time or distance you have left and what interval you're on, but nothing else -- you have no idea what pace you're running. In some ways, that's good, because it forces you to run based on feel, and by now I should have a fairly good idea of what a 6:45 pace feels like.
Unfortunately, my first interval ended up being up a steep hill, so 6:45 was pretty much out of the question (remember, I had no idea how fast I was doing any of this until I got home). I did it at a 7:32 pace. Here are the remaining paces: 7:35, 7:03, 7:22, 7:01. So none of them were at the 6:45 goal pace, but given the sweltering conditions, not bad. The slower intervals were uphill, and I especially like the 7:01 pace on the final leg.
I set this run up so I'd be back home after the intervals, giving myself a chance to eat some gels and drink water without having to carry them around. Next up were reps. With reps, you're working on strength, speed, and form, so you want to be fully recovered after each rep. So despite the fact that they were about half the length of the intervals, I got 3 minutes of rest between each. Here were my times for the reps (remember, they're a quarter-mile each, so multiply by 4 to get the per-mile pace): 1:30, 1:31, 1:32, 1:35, 1:34, 1:39. My goal pace was 6:00 per mile, or 1:30 per rep, so I was quite close to that on all but the final rep. I'm not sure what happened there; I don't think I was especially tired -- I imagine I just lost concentration a bit.
After this workout, I was definitely spent. Between my two cool-down miles, I actually slowed down to a 1-minute walk before bringing it home. A total of 11.4 miles, an average of 8:22 per mile during the intervals and 9:00 per mile during the reps, including the warm-up, cool-down and rest between intervals/reps.
Details of today's workout are below:
The plan was to run 5, 3-minute intervals at a 6:45 pace, then 6, 400-meter repetitions at a 6:00 pace. I didn't want to do this on the track, so I used my Garmin to measure the intervals on the road. Given the heat I might have to slow my pace by about 15 seconds per mile but I didn't want to go much slower than that. The reason you do intervals, says Jack Daniels, is to maximize the time spent running at VO2max. Normally you can only sustain a VO2max run for a few minutes. But if you do intervals, you get up to VO2max, then take a break, then get right back up to VO2max at the next interval. Instead of spending 3 or 4 minutes at VO2max, you spend 2 minutes in each interval at VO2max, for a total of 10 minutes when you do 5 intervals. You want to recover enough after each interval that you can do the next one at the same pace, but you don't want to fully recover because that just means it takes longer to get back to VO2max.
One problem with using the "interval" feature on Garmin is it doesn't give you much information. It tells you how much time or distance you have left and what interval you're on, but nothing else -- you have no idea what pace you're running. In some ways, that's good, because it forces you to run based on feel, and by now I should have a fairly good idea of what a 6:45 pace feels like.
Unfortunately, my first interval ended up being up a steep hill, so 6:45 was pretty much out of the question (remember, I had no idea how fast I was doing any of this until I got home). I did it at a 7:32 pace. Here are the remaining paces: 7:35, 7:03, 7:22, 7:01. So none of them were at the 6:45 goal pace, but given the sweltering conditions, not bad. The slower intervals were uphill, and I especially like the 7:01 pace on the final leg.
I set this run up so I'd be back home after the intervals, giving myself a chance to eat some gels and drink water without having to carry them around. Next up were reps. With reps, you're working on strength, speed, and form, so you want to be fully recovered after each rep. So despite the fact that they were about half the length of the intervals, I got 3 minutes of rest between each. Here were my times for the reps (remember, they're a quarter-mile each, so multiply by 4 to get the per-mile pace): 1:30, 1:31, 1:32, 1:35, 1:34, 1:39. My goal pace was 6:00 per mile, or 1:30 per rep, so I was quite close to that on all but the final rep. I'm not sure what happened there; I don't think I was especially tired -- I imagine I just lost concentration a bit.
After this workout, I was definitely spent. Between my two cool-down miles, I actually slowed down to a 1-minute walk before bringing it home. A total of 11.4 miles, an average of 8:22 per mile during the intervals and 9:00 per mile during the reps, including the warm-up, cool-down and rest between intervals/reps.
Details of today's workout are below:
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