1-Mile Intervals on the Track

On the last day of January, my college was closed due to the weather, and both boys were home too. I was able to drop them at a neighbors for 90 minutes as I ran out to do a quick workout. I headed to the indoor track at the college where I teach (after making sure that it was ACTUALLY open, because most campus buildings were closed due to the snow/cold).

I think I’ve done 1-mile intervals there before, but it’s been a LONG time. It’s an elevated track (with slightly banked corners) where 11.8 laps in the first lane is 1 mile. (Or 11.0 laps in the outside lane.) Here’s what it looks like from the back corner of the track where I often do my heel exercises:

Normal phone photo showing a “short” side of the track.


Panoramic photo showing a distorted version of the space (with a guy walking on the left).

I ran in about the middle lane (which is 11.5 laps/mile), but still counted 11 laps as 1 mile. So I knew times would be a little fast by about 0:14 or 0:15. I was quite happy with my splits! Some college athletes came out to warm up near the end of my first interval, and that helped push me. Here were my (short) half mile splits (5.5 laps):

2:44 + 2:37 = 5:21
2:41 + 2:35 = 5:16
2:39 + 2:37 = 5:16

- 5:17.67 average
- 5:32.1 equivalent mile pace

I had no real expectations other than to “run fast,” and I was so happy with this workout. I was happy with my splits as I descended each mile. I feel like I could go faster, so I might have to try this workout again soon... possibly later today...

That workout came 2 days after my longest treadmill run in years, so that was a good stretch of running!