Not a Track Workout Tuesday

I ran speed work on the road today, and I just couldn't think of a catchy title akin to "Track Tuesday," so there you have it!

The workout I ran is one of my all-time favorite workouts, partially because I think it benefits me in race distances from the 5K up to the marathon.  It hits on speed, stamina, mental toughness, and a whole slew of different race paces.  It includes repeats of 2 mile, 1.5 mile, 1 mile, and 0.5 mile, with recovery jogs half the distance of the previous repeat (so 1, 0.75, and 0.5).  It's 10 miles total with warm-up and cool-down, and 5 miles of quality work.

I was solo for this workout, and I ran around my neighborhood loop which is 0.8.  Whenever I run speed work or tempos from home I run this loop so my splits will be comparable.  It's not flat, but for the area it has relatively minimal elevation changes (e.g., it is my best option by far!).  Essentially it has one short side of noticeable uphill, one short side of noticeable downhill, one long side of slight incline and one long side of slight decline.  I've run it enough to know how my average pace will fluctuate over the course, and I also know how much I can gain on the downhill portion!  I think I can run about as fast on it as I would on a pancake flat course, because I can gain on the downhill/decline sections to make up for the uphill/incline sections - plus I am sure it's good for me because no races around here are flat!

My goal for today was to start at 6:15 pace and work down 5 seconds each repeat, making my goal times 12:30, 9:15, 6:05, and 3:00.  I had previously done this workout faster than that, but I didn't think I was quite there at present.  This workout is a good mental one since you are speeding up each repeat, but you are also running a shorter distance!  My actual times ended up being 12:24 (6:15, 6:09), 9:11 (6:11, 3:00), 5:59, and 2:54.  I was quite happy with this, and although I haven't looked thoroughly through my training log, I am 95% sure that this is the second fastest I've ever done this workout - and I've been running this one for a good 7+ years so that's quite exciting for me!  I felt strong throughout, but I had to push pretty hard to go sub-6:00 on the mile!

I am working on focusing on good form, including keeping my arm swings straight, driving my knees forward, moving forward and not vertically, and fast light feet.  I really have to focus on it, so it makes running a little less enjoyable because I can't lose myself in my thoughts, but it will get easier with practice I assume.  If it's going to benefit me as much as I'm told it will, it is worth it!  Focusing so much on my form and my pace today was a little stressful, and the form changes are definitely easier on easy runs!  Tomorrow I will practice some more, and I end today pleased with this week's workout.

Splits

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