Interval Tuesday!

It's my favorite day of the week...Interval Tuesday. That means I run until I can't run anymore. I know it is tuesday but my body doesn't feel like it is Tuesday. I'm not incredibly tired, my heart isn't pounding as I write this blog and my legs aren't shaking. I'm sore but it is a comfortable sore. Did I work hard enough this morning? Something just feels different? Perhaps I am getting stronger? After a weekend of racing on sat and then doing a tough brick on sunday, I decided to swim on monday morning (my "day-off") as a form of active recovery. I think it really loosened me up and I really felt good all day on monday as oppose to feeling tired, stiff and sore from the weekend. This morning the alarm went off at 5:30am and I was quick to get out of bed. I had my coffee, put some amino's in my water bottle and I headed to the Y. I had a bit more time this morning to train so I decided to go to the Y and run on the treadmill so I could swim right afterwards and do some core work(instead of in the afternoon and run outside). I really pushed hard this morning, had my HR monitor on and stay focused the entire run. I visualized running at Ironman Florida 70.3 on my favorite 3-loop run course on 1/2 off-road, 1/2 pavement. I visualized giving it all until I crossed the finish line, only imagining myself breakinf 5 hours (my goal). I started off with a 10 min. warm-up at 7 mph and it felt incredibly easy. Almost too easy that I bumped it to 7.2 for the last couple of minutes. Here's the main set which I did 2 times: 3 x 1 min, 2 x 2 min, 1 x 3 min. Here's how I ran them. During the first set I did the 1 minutes @ 9mph and the 2 min @ 8.8mph. For the 3 min I started at @ 8.7 mph. but every minute afterwards I had to run what I did on the 2 minutes and then the last minute was what I did on the 1 minutes. So my 3 min. run was ran at 8.7, 8.8 and 9mph for each minute. I recovered for 1 minute @ 7.5 mph (which felt like I was jogging) after every interval throughout. After the first set I recovered for 5 minutes and repeated the set. The next time I bumped up the pace. Set #2: 3 x 1 min @ 9.2 mph, 2 x 2 min @ 9.0 mph and 1 x 3 min starting at 8.8mph, then 9, then 9.2! I used the last 15 minutes for a cool-down because I wanted to run for an hour total and did 5 min. at 7.5 mph, 5 min @ 7.8 and 5 min @ 7.5. I was sweating, my hair was all over the place (even with my hair in my ponytail poof and my headband), my face was red but I felt like I could control my breathing. I'm still working on the muscle memory so I need to really think about my leg turnover and making sure I am stricking with my mid-foot and keeping my hips squared. If I don't think about things I may have the tendency to add a little limp from my injury and I don't want that! I ended up with 8 miles this morning!!! After a few arm exercises and core I jumped in the pool for a swim. I was dead tired but i didn't want to get out of the water. I swam a 1500 w/ a 500 warm-up, 6 x 75 on 1:15 and 6 x 50's on 50. 300 cool-down and I was done. I made myself a yummy smoothie when I got home and had some dry cereal with it (granola, raisins, generic cheerios and some bran flakes). Suprisingly, I feel really good about my hard effort today. I am not wanting to collapse in pain and I feel like I really gained something from this morning. I'm sore enough to remember what I did this morning but I feel like I am really gaining something from all these interval tuesdays! The great thing about being consistent with your training is that you really recognize the improvements and you are always wanting to go a bit faster and further than the last time. Unfortunantly, because I feel somewhat ok, that means so relaxing on the couch... I must study for my biology lab quiz today :( Have a great Interval Tuesday everyone....even if you don't do intervals today :)