Speed work makes the dream work

This past Sunday I did interval training for the first time. When I got on the track I was surprised at the fact that I never tried to do them before. One reason may have been that I wasn't able to find a track in my area. The other reason was that I simply didn't want to do them. I've done hills (or bridges here in Florida) and tempo runs but never intervals. For some reason I kind of wrote intervals off as something that wasn't my thing. Of course I never tried them so how would I even know if they're my thing or not. 

Since I'm going to be training people I thought it would make sense to actually do things that I would be asking my trainees to do. Makes sense right? So I found a track and got to training. I did 8 x 400 meters at my 5k pace (or faster) and then a 2-3 minute recovery run.

Guess what I discovered folks!? Intervals are hard! For the first 400 meters I went out way too fast. By the time I was finishing up my first lap I was winded. That didn't help me to push as hard for the remaining seven intervals I had left. I certainly learned my lesson though and gradually increased my pace rather than shoot like a rocket from the starting point. I will say that my recovery run was much faster than I expected. I thought that I was running at about a 9:30 pace when in fact I was running an 8:30 pace. 

By the end of the training I was spent, but I certainly liked changing up my normal routine. Now that I have a track I can go to (and no more excuses) I think I'll be incorporating more intervals into my training. Certainly can't hurt! And to add to this wonderful learning experience I also set TWO new PR's. My fastest mile was 7:49 and my fastest 5k was 24:50! I guess this stuff really does work.