Another tough Tuesday of intervals. Yes, I woke up at 6am so that I could kick my butt only for YOU (my blog readers) to read about my pain. Once again, the heart was pounding, I could barely see straight and my breathing was so loud that all the walkers on the trail were starring at me. But all I could think about was pushing hard for my oh-so-fast, get it done, it goes by so fast, oh it hurts interval tuesday workout. I got one email in before I headed out for my run as I drank my coffee. I had my amino acid powder in about 6 ounces of water and I was ready for my run. I walked to the end of the street and started my stop watch. 10 min warm-up as usual but I really had to stay focused. Perhaps the Iron Girl 10K + 3.2 mile run home on sat, in addition to the 62 windy ride along the water I did on sun wanted to get the best of me. But NO! There is no stopping me on my interval tuesday. I extended my 10 min warm-up to 15 minutes and reminded myself of my set today (which I thought of last night in 7-10pm global marketing class, before I took an exam). The wind was blowing at me so I knew the first part of my set was going to be tough. On the way home, even with the wind at my back, it was even tougher. I started pushing harder and I wasn't ready to slow down until the set was over. Here is the set today: 15 min warm-up, 4 x Main Set: 3 min @ 10K pace with 1 min jog, 3 x 1 min. @ 5K pace with 30 sec jog. 10 min cool-down This was a tough morning because I am thinking about my first tri of the season on sat. It is a 4 mile run which is just perfect for me. Just long enough to get my rhythm without feeling like the race is over before I start feeling good. I am started to lengthen the intervals because I'm a little over a month away from Ironman Florida 70.3 and I am ready to run my heart out for 13.1 miles at that race. As I mentioned, the first two sets were ok but I felt it more in my legs than anything. My GI system was telling me that i needed to go to the bathroom so I made a quick stop at the McD's at my turn around. I mean...out of all places for me to go to the bathroom I have to go to the McDonald's!! Vegetarian, athlete, sweaty 25-year old and I have all the old guys trying to talk to me when I walk in to the place. Oh jeez..of course i have to be nice and tell them that I am training for a race to validate coming into the McD's and Only using the restroom. My dad will get a kick out of this because he thinks i secretly eat Big Mac's when I tell him I make bathroom stops at McD's. Alright, I do like the parfaits but not this morning. Back to my run and I was heading home. I took a quick glance at my watch and noticed that I ran about .3-.5 miles longer than last week in the same amount of time. Now on the way home i picked up the pace with the wind at my back. Now the heart was pounding, breathing was heavy and I was looking forward to the 1 min. walk I gave myself after every set. I kept telling myself..."Ok body...if you work hard for the 8 1/2 min. set you get to walk" Oh the walk felt so good but my 1 min walk could have easily been a 2 or 3 min walk before the last set. I was hurting all over. I pushed hard for the last set and stayed focused. My out and back came to about 7.5 miles in 57 minutes, incluiding my warm-up and warm-down jog. What a great morning and I finished with core exercises on my ball. I provided a nice sweaty picture of my convincing look that I enjoyed my morning workout. Oh, and my smoothie post-workout was amazing. So now I will study for my big biology exam (which is tomorrow) and then head to my bio lab at 2-5. Afternoon swim is going to feel great today!