Hitting My Mark

Today was intervals. Never my favorite training day, but a necessity, nonetheless. It was made more daunting when I woke up this morning and saw the weather - 78 degrees with a dewpoint of 74. Very uncomfortable, but I went out.

The plan was to run 5 miles; a 1/2 mile warmup, and six half-mile repeats with quarter-mile jogs in between. My goal pace for the repeats was 8:45. As I've said many times here, the streets in my neighborhood are very hilly. This would be quite a task, indeed.

The humidity was stifling but I persevered. At one point (halfway through my 3rd repeat), I looked at my Garmin to check my pace, and saw 7:47. That's right, a sub-8:00 pace. Unbelieveable. I backed off slightly so as to not blow myself out.

I got to the point after my 3rd repeat where I actually walked for 1/10 mile after finishing the half-mile interval. Then I picked it back up to a jog before starting again. Mostly because I felt as if I was breathing through a carpet. I did that for the rest of the run, and it helped.

When I finished my run, I checked my Garmin, and saw the numbers: 26:16 for 6 half-mile repeats (overall, 47:17 for 5 miles). That, my friends, is an 8:46 pace. I hit the mark, dead on!

A great way to start the day!