(last year at Disney)
After a few days of "vacationing" and being off my typical weekly schedule, I was eager to get back home just in time for interval tuesday. When I woke up this morning I started thinking about what to do for my run. I was thinking something longer than last week since I am getting closer to Disney. Well, I had a brief moment of nervousness...Disney is in less than 2 weeks! That means this tuesday and next tuesday..that's it for interval tuesdays until the big day!!!
I decided today was the morning that I see if all the interval training paid off. It was time for mile repeaters. 3 of them! I was a bit nervous and all through my 5:30-6:30 swim (2800 yards) with the team I was thinking about the run. I was nervous and a bit worried. Not even during my Ironman training did I do mile-repeaters. I would run for miles and miles but nothing for a mile at the pace I wanted to do today. Since i have been feeling really strong lately, I figured I could do my mile repeaters close to the pace that I have been doing my shorter intervals.
After the swim I joined Barb and Tony on the treadmills. I didn't have much to talk about even during warm-up. It was all business this morning. I did a 10 min. warm-up at 7.3mph and then 5x45 sec. pick-ups (w/ 15 sec straddle treadmill) at 7.8mph. I felt really good as i picked up the pace so I started to feel confident for the repeaters. I guess it is only 3 repeaters but running hard for anything more than 5-minutes can be a real physical and mental battle. I didn't want to start out to fast but at the same time, I knew I needed to push hard to accomplish something from this workout. I wanted to also descend the miles and finish the workout with 4x.25 hard w/ .15 mile recovery. And the other part...I was only jogging at 7.7mph for 1 minute between repeaters. Not a lot of recovery but I needed to pace myself just right with good form. Here is the set today!
10 min. warm-up at 7.3 mph
5 x 45 sec pickups at 7.8 mph w/ 15 sec off
Main set:
3 x 1 mile repeaters w/ 1 min jog at 7.6 mph
#1 - 7:03 min/mile (8.5mph)
#2 - 6:58 min/mile (8.6mph)
#3 - 6:53 min/mile (8.7mph)
Last set:
4 x .25 mile HARD w/ .15 recovery (7.8 mph)
#1 - 9mph
#2 - 9.1mph
#3 - 9.2mph
#4 - 9.3mph (6:35 min/mile)
Warmdown jog
Total: 7.3 miles, 53 minutes (I think)
I was really happy with this workout. I felt great during the workout and even later in the day, I felt good. I am hoping all comes together for Disney. Oh how bad I would love to break 5 hours. Most of all, I will be ready with my smile and thumbs-up. I am looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and having fun pushing hard and doing what I love to do.....
