I’m not a sprinter anymore. The older I get the longer it takes for me to warm up. The longer the race the better I get. That holds true for these damn repeats on our Marathon Training schedule.
Today called for 2, 2 mile repeats at 5K or 10K pace. There was still a lot of snow on the ground so I was relegated to doing these things on the treadmill. I warmed up for 1 mile then got the party started.
After Dan made fun of my slow repeats I decided to run them a little faster today. I ramped up the treadmill to 8.5 mph or 07:04/mile. From the gun I didn’t think I would be able to finish 2 miles at this pace. It felt like my legs were not going to be able to stride fast enough. Watching Illinois’ poor performance playing against Minnesota didn’t help. I struggled through it though and was happy to slow down after hitting mile 3.
At 3.5 miles I was dreading ramping up the speed again. As the speed increased from 7.0 to 8.5 mph I could immediately tell that this repeat was going to be easier than the first one. I guess I just needed a warm up. My legs did not struggle to maintain the pace. I even increased to 9.0 mph (06:40/mile) for the last 0.5 miles. It felt good to finish strong.
I totaled 7 miles wtih 4 of them at a good pace. So a pretty good workout. I’m a lover, not a fighter and an endurance athlete, not a sprinter.
Weekly Total: 15 miles
