The last time I did mile repeats, I allowed too much recovery time in between intervals (4:00 minutes). After seeking advice from those more experienced with these kind of workouts (thanks Jeff and Ryan), it sounded as if two minutes recovery or lightly jogging one lap around the track in between intervals was best. So, that was the plan. Overall, it went quite well. However, still far from perfect.
The MDI Marathon is very hilly, so times are naturally a bit slower. My goal is to break 3:15:59 to qualify for Boston. However, I need to take into account the hills when using the McMillian calculator to figure out split times for speed workouts, so I'm using 3:05:00 as a benchmark. That has me doing mile repeats in the 6:06-6:18 range. I averaged 6:08/mile today.
I averaged those splits in some pretty warm temperatures and intense humidity to boot. It was in the mid-eighties and still very humid when I finished. However, I was very inconsistant in my splits. Lack of experience with these kind of workouts showed, as I started out way too fast and as a result the splits dropped pretty substantially. Typical rookie-like mistake.
Original intent was to jog lightly for a lap around the track in between each mile interval. I nixed this after the third mile and opted to drink up and walk around for two minutes instead (same time as a light jog for one lap). Just was too hot and humid out there.
Worth noting that I full-on puked a few times after the final mile repeat. Nothing related to heat stroke or the like. My stomach just wasn't holding down the diluted Gatorade I was drinking during the workouts. Felt fine afterwards, and after resting a few minutes, went ahead and did my barefoot cooldown run with no problem.
But overall, pretty pleased with the workout, all things considered. Good hay in the barn, and though the splits were pretty hap-hazard, was glad to keep the average low and do it in hot and humid conditions, nonetheless.
w/u - Ran 1.0 miles @ 7:17/mile pace.
5 X 1-mile repeats w/ 2:00 recovery in between: 5:56, 5:54, 6:05, 6:15, 6:28.
c/d - Ran 1.6 miles @ 9:27/mile pace. Barefoot.
Total miles including recoveries - 8.3 miles
Upper 70s to mid 80s, mostly cloudy, very humid.
Saucony Kinvara, shorts.
