For my half-marathon training, I have loosely been following Hal Higdon’s ‘Intermediate Training Program’. The program includes some ’speed work’ where you run shorter intervals at a faster pace. For example, run a quarter mile at a 5-K pace, then walk/jog for a quarter mile. The theory behind this is that if your body gets a feeling for running at a faster pace, your goal race pace can be improved.
I hadn’t done this type of training until yesterday. It was actually kinda fun, while remaining pretty tough. Hal’s program slowly increases the number of intervals to 10 over the course of 12 weeks or so. But since I am a few weeks from my race, the program schedule for yesterday called for nine intervals. Ambitious, but I tried it anyway and was able to do it without ever walking between the hard runs.
I warmed up at a 10:45 minute-mile pace for eight minutes or so and then started in on the speed work. I alternated quarter-mile runs at 7:45/mile and 10:30/mile (that’s about 7.7 mph and 5.6 mph on the treadmill).
At the end of the workout, I had run 47 minutes continuously and covered a little over 5 miles. Not bad for just jumping into this kind of training. It’s encouraging and I can’t wait to try it again.
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