Intervals Again

On the hottest day of the year I went out and did something that's been rare in the past year of running: intervals. After an off day yesterday it was time to hit the track. (I did not swim because I am waiting for the UofT office of convocation to update the student records system so that the Athletic Centre can see that I am indeed a first year alum and, therefore, eligible for a decent discount on a membership. Tomorrow I will see if that is all doable and maybe get back to swimming again.)

Anyway, after biking home in the +31C (90F) plus humidity weather I was already pretty tired, but had been looking forward to doing some speed work for the first time in quite a while. I got ready and biked over to the track with a bottle of water and another of Gatorade as well as some apprehension over what I would be putting my body through. The plan was to run a warm up and then do 12X400m intervals with 90 seconds rest in between. I found a shady spot next to a small utility type building and parked my bike. This would prove to be a great resting place between each interval since the sun was still pretty strong in the early evening and it was definitely hot. I like the heat, but haven't had a chance to get used to it just yet. Workouts like this one should help in that department.

I ended up running only ten intervals because I felt a twinge in my right knee on the ninth one, but I still consider the whole workout a success. I was trying to stay at 4:00/km pace or faster (6:25/mile or so), which meant 1:37 per 400m. Here's how it all went down:

1. 1:33.90 (3:51/km)
2. 1:32.80 (3:48/km)
3. 1:31.80 (3:46/km)
4. 1:32.97 (3:49/km)
5. 1:34.52 (3:54/km)
6. 1:33.84 (3:50/km)
7. 1:31.65 (3:49/km)
8. 1:32.85 (3:51/km)
9. 1:35.92 (3:57/km)
10. 1:34.17 (3:53/km)

The average pace for for these intervals is somewhere around 3:50/km, or 6:11/mile, so it was definitely right on target and perhaps a bit too fast. I tended to start out each rep a little fast and then had to hang on as I came around the last bend and ran straight into a headwind. This was not an easy workout and I definitely felt a bit sick to my stomach towards the end, but that was partly due to the huge lunch I'd eaten and all the Gatorade and water that I had been drinking to try and stay cool. I think next time, heat or no heat, I will save the drinks for later in the workout so that it doesn't all slosh around inside my stomach so much. Also, my max heart rate ended up being 177bpm so I don't think I pushed myself to the absolute limit, which was good.

After the intervals I ran another 6 laps to complete the workout for a total of 8km, which was the distance planned for today. (I warmed up with 4 laps, or 1.6km and then ran 4km worth of intervals with those stationary rest periods.) In summary, a great workout. The knees are feeling it a bit tonight, but I've already iced and foam rolled a bit so I am hopeful that they recover for my Friday run.

Garmin don't lie.