Breakthrough Run Workout

I usually don’t blog about individual workouts since I track them in my workout logs already, and I certainly have enough of those. I track my workouts in 3 places, a hand-written log in my planner which is good for logging quickly while on the go since my planner is always with me, and two web-based logs. One is mapmyride.com, which is pretty general for a log, but it does calculate calories (roughly) and of course you can log the actual route you did by mapping it which is by far the best feature. The new mapping software with the road tracking option makes mapping a breeze for longer routes now, too. It’s a very visual log, showing you a calendar view of your month with little icons depicting your different entries, but it definitely has its limits. I also you triblogs.com, which is a British site I believe. That really only comes into play with the defaulting of units to km and time of day to somewhere in Europe, but both options can be changed in preferences. This log is designed for triathlon workout logs, so it is better in many ways than mapmyride. I don’t use enough of the tools on the site to really take advantage of it fully at this point, but should use it more. I like that it can give you a snapshot of your week broken down by percentage of each sport you are doing as well as allowing your comments on the workout to show up in your week view. It also has a plan section, where you can “log” your upcoming workouts and use it as your schedule as well. I should devote a future post to giving a full review of each of the logs…I’ll try and get on that.

Now, that was quite a tangent, wasn’t it? Let’s get back to my original opening…

I usually don’t blog about individual workouts…but today I’m making an exception. Yesterday was a speed workout run for my ½ marathon training plan. It was really only a middle distance run with 800m intervals worked in, but I surprised myself with how well it went, so wanted to share.
Here’s how I planned the run:
- 1 mile steady warm-up (7:50-8:00/mile)
- 4x800m w/ ~800m steady b/w (3:29, 3:24, 3:19, and 3:14 for the 800s respectively)
- Steady cool down until total run time = 40minutes (guessing ~5.2 miles)

The run was performed on a park path that circles a small lake. One loop is 2.6 miles and it is marked every ¼ mile (~800m). The path is uneven and worn at times, and does not include any large hills, but is constantly undulating. I figured this would be a challenging workout, and a good speed work exercise for my upcoming race (goal 7:15/mile for ½ Mary on last weekend of April). I’m not coached, so these workouts just come from my experiences, what I’ve read, and my availability.
Here’s the actual workout numbers:
- 4x800m @ 3:21, 3:14, 3:11, and 3:07 respectively
- Steady sections run b/w 7:35-8:00/mile
- Overall run 5.5 miles in 40 minutes

The best parts about it were the speed of my recovery sections and the relative ease at which I hit my splits. I was able to fully recover between each leg in only 3.5-4 minutes time and was still running a good pace. Also, for the first 3 intervals, I had to focus on holding back after verifying I was ahead of pace at the half-way point. My last interval was a struggle, since it’s a fast split and was performed on a section of the trail where the first portion is about the flattest section of the path, but the second part is constantly up and down, and more violent bumps than in other sections of the park with an uphill 150m finish. I had some issues with stitches on this last one, so didn’t push all-out at the end, just made sure I was safely under my goal time. I was in pain at the end, but it was a good pain.

I felt this was very good test of my fitness currently, and I feel well ahead of where I’ve been in the past, especially in regard to my steady run pace and my top end speed. Could be attributed to the nearly 20 lbs I am lighter right now, along with some other factors, but it’s exciting nonetheless.

To finish this post out, a little more excitement. It’s supposed to be mid 50’s and sunny when I get off work this evening, so I am going to try and get my first outdoor ride of the season. It won’t be on my new bike since I don’t have hydration on there yet, but it will still be fun to get outdoors again (fingers crossed).