31-03-18WorkoutRun --
Warmup - 1.2mi @ 8:30 + 5 strides of 50m
Workout - 8 x (400 @ ~1:37 + 400 @ ~1:47) [so this was 4mi in 27:03, because I didn't get the paces quite right every time, for an average pace of 6:45/mile]
Cooldown - 2.15mi @ 9:30
NotesSo I did a half marathon specific workout I found on that blog I posted about recently:
http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2015/01/workout-wednesday-400400-alternations.htmlThe blog post said to aim for 6-8 miles for half marathon, but I guess I will build to that over the coming weeks. I am still pretty new to running these sorts of paces, before this I'd only done 8 miles total a <7:00 pace, and not that many more at <7:20.
The idea is to alternative 400s such that the average pace is your target half marathon pace (so here it was 6:45, for a 1:28:30 half marathon). The fast 400s should be 20s/mile faster than target pace, and the slow "rest" 400s at 20s/mile slower. The "rest" pace isn't exactly slow for me, since that works out to like ~7:00-7:05 pace.
I really liked this workout! That's 4 miles of hard running, half of which was at ~6:20ish pace. I got better at finding the rhythm/pace without having to check my watch at 200m with time, though if you look at Strava you can see I blitzed the first 400 in 1:24, lol. But yeah, hitting 16 laps in basically 27 flat without going totally balls to the wall is pretty great.
Also, I picked up a cheap pair of Kinvara 8s since they're a pretty old shoe by now. Quite liked them! Feel super light, though I guess they're not really that much lighter than my Escalantes. They're a much firmer/more responsive ride, which is nice to have as a contrast. Bit better lateral stability, which makes them better suited for track work. Anyway, glad to have a second pair of shoes in the rotation (excl. my racers).
Actually went into this workout still feeling a little sore. It was also raining and the track was soaking wet, so all things considered I feel good about the result of this workout.
Big thing to improve at with this session pacing wise: I would slow down too hard when transitioning from the fast 400 to the rest 400, and then not pick it up until like 200m into the rep. More even "rest" reps would probably help me actually recover a bit more during then and help me extend the workout.
Easy run tomorrow to get over 30mi!