This morning was my scheduled speedwork. Last week, I did fartleks; this week, I figured I'd do intervals.
Since I run on the street and not a track, it's kinda difficult to accurately gauge 1/2 mile runs, so I did three 1-mile intervals with 1/2 mile jogs. I have a 5-mile loop I'm pretty familiar with, and I have a rough idea of where the "mile" markers are.
My first mile actually was 1.02 miles, and I ran that in 8:46 (an 8:35 pace), which was slightly faster than my goal time. My third mile was also 1.02 miles, and I did that in 8:40 (8:29 pace). Not bad. What really surprised me was the middle interval.
When I measured it out this morning on www.logyourrun.com, the distance came to 1.09 miles. But that stretch of the neighborhood is loaded with rolling hills. I was saying to myself as I was running that I wouldn't be surprised if that was my worst of the 3 intervals, since I was really pushing it. I guess I really pushed it, because I covered the 1.09 miles in 8:26, according to my lap counter on my watch. That translates into a 7:44 pace!! I don't think that I have ever, in my 20 months of running, run a mile in under 8 minutes. Ever.
So, to recap, I ran 3.13 interval miles (basically, a 5K) this morning in 25:52. That's an 8:15 pace, on a severely rolling course. I'm extremely happy with that.
I am very confident that if I can find a flat 5K to run this fall or winter, that I can indeed reach my goal of running a sub-8:00 pace 5K. I know now I can do it for at least 1 mile on rolling hills.
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