12 x 600 meters

This morning Megan and I were churning laps around Lake McAlpine. Roughly the distance around the lake is about 600 meters. Really, it is long enough to make it hurt but not long enough to make either of us want to stop.

We started with a 6 mile warm at just under 8 minute pace.

Each of the 600s was followed by 200 meter recovery. To keep me on track, my goal was to keep my heart rate in check around 165 bpm.

For the first 5 intervals I worked really hard getting my heart rate up and was coming home in about 164 to 165. As I wanted, this was pretty much on target for me. Megan was finishing right behind me. Over the next 6, she was doing much better. I would start the interval by leading out but with about 200 meters left, she would pull through and finish it off.

Once my heart rate hit 165, I had settle-in and finish out the interval. Where she started a little slower which gave her some extra room to finish out each interval strong.

On the last one, I pushed a little harder getting my heart rate up to 171 and ran the last 600 about 5 to 6 seconds faster than all of the previous ones.

Afterwards Megan examined each interval on her Garmin and read off our average pace for each one. Our average pace across the intervals was approximately 5:45 per mile .

Taking all things into perspective, this was a good workout. I am still a couple of months out from OBX, but the legs are beginning to handle both the extra miles and the harder miles.

Think positive and "Just Run"

 

Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner