3 x 2 mi with 2 minute recovery
After a busy weekend, life marches onward. Today, Megan and I were headed to the track for a speedy little workout. Megan had 2 x 15 minutes at 6:15 pace. Me, I was planning a 3 x 2 mile workout with a 2 minute recovery at roughly 6:10 pace.
We left Megan's house and headed up the hill to the track. We tallied about 3 miles in warm up and then hit the track. We started our workouts together but then, we quickly spread out around the track.
Having raced 10 miles on Saturday and then run another 20 miles Sunday, my legs surprisingly don't feel too bad. They don't feel great but they felt good enough to attempt this workout.
As I round each lap, I make a mental note of the lap number but ignore any thought of looking at my Garmin. Once the workout starts, I have never found looking at my Garmin makes me run any faster but knowing I am not running well, does some seem to make me spiral downward and run slower.
Clicking off the laps, I caught Megan on my 2nd to last lap. I make the last couple of circuits and feel good, out of breathe but still I feel pretty good. The wind is gusting and swirling inside the stadium so sometimes, I am dragging myself along and other times, I am being pushed along. Tail winds are always nice and I have never turned one down.
I start the 2nd 2 mile interval. I am chugging along. At various portions of the track, I can see Megan running her workout. She is running smooth and relaxed. I keep thinking to myself "when is she going to start her workout". She doesn't look like she is working hard at all. Personally, when I run, I feel more like a bull in a china shop as appose to deer running across the greenway. I have never felt like I run lightly.
Finally, the laps wind and I finish my 2nd interval and jog an easy quarter mile to recover.
I don't know how many runners experience this same thought but this is what went through my head as prepared for my last interval. Why is it that a recovery quarter mile seems to flash by while when I run a hard interval it feels like an eternity needs to pass before I finish my lap. I cannot explain it but that's how I feel.
The 3rd intervals up and I am pushing steadily through it. I don't want to kill it. This isn't what the workout is about. I just want to run a nice fluid set of miles and keep the engine purring toward OBX next week.
One by one the laps click off. Finally, I am working the very last lap. Mentally, I know that I am done when I complete this last lap. I push, but not too hard. Like I said, I want it to be steady.
I checked my splits from the intervals: 11:58, 11:46, and 11:43 running solo. My target going into the workout at had been 12:20 or just ahead of my expected OBX marathon pace.
This was definitely better than I expected and I am super excited about it.
We finished things off with a 3 mile cool down back to Megan's house and I put a done stamp on a great workout.
There are only a few more workouts to do and I am glad that most of the hay is already in the barn.
Sharing one thought a at time,
The Cool Down Runner
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