Last Speed Workout Before THIS WEEKEND'S RACE

At the end of last month, I did 2x2 mile intervals as TASTE of speed 2.5 weeks before the Fort Snelling 5K relay. (I posted a bit about that speed workout in this post.) A month ago, my half mile splits for those 2x2 mile intervals looked like this:

- 3:07, 3:03, 3:02, 3:07 = 12:20.15 (6:10.08 pace)
- 3:00 walking rest
- 3:04, 3:12, 3:05, 3:05 = 12:29.33 (6:14.67 pace)

This past Wednesday (11 days pre-Rocky's Run 6K race and 11 days post-Fort Snelling 5K race), I did the same workout on the same paths, and my splits looked like this:

- 2:57, 3:08, 3:03, 2:59 = 12:07.85 (6:03.93 pace)
- 3:00 walking rest
- 3:06, 3:02, 3:03, 3:03 = 12:15.23 (6:07.62 pace)

So even though this workout last week felt pretty rough, the times show that I'm moving in the right direction. When I would do this workout in previous years, I'd commonly average over 30 seconds faster for each 2 mile interval, so I've still got PLENTY of work to do. In fact, I found this blog post from 2013 where I noted doing this 2x2 mile interval workout WHILE PUSHING HENRY IN THE STROLLER while running splits of 11:46 and 11:42. Yikes. Here's a pick from that blog post that shows me running a cool down with 2-yr-old Henry:

I forgot how we used to snap his snack cup in like that on runs. Ha!

p.s. Real life race buddy/friendly curmudgeon Steve Q challenged me to a handicapped race on twitter:

So 4:30 is the handicap at this weekend's 6K Rocky's Run. We'll see how it all pans out! (Come race with us! It's 10:30 on Sunday morning at the Les Bolstad Golf Course off of Larpenter and Cleveland just north of the State Fair. $10 race entry. It's the final race in the MDRA Grand Prix series, so should be lots of familiar faces.)