2x2 Mile Intervals

When I took an icy tumble on the track 2 weeks ago, I declared that track season was over for 2023. So I stuck to my word and hit the paved trail along River Road on Friday morning instead of the track.

After a short warm-up, I got set to run hard in the dark:

First interval starts at split 4 through 8, 2nd interval was 9 through 13.


My fast out-and-back 2 milers along the river.

I had no goals, just to work hard. My first half-mile splits were OK at 2:56 and 2:59, and I hoped I could be faster on the way back... AND I WAS! My last mile had half-mile splits of 2:49 and 2:54. That was better!

After walking for 3 minutes and taking a sip of the water bottle that I stashed in a tree, I started my second 2-mile interval. Every split of this one was the same or faster. Here are my splits for both intervals:

2 x 2 mile intervals (taking 1/2 mile splits):

2:56, 2:59, 2:49, 2:54 = 11:39.4

3:00 walking rest

2:52, 2:58, 2:49, 2:53 = 11:33.4

There's nothing unexpected in my pace and heart rate chart:

Pace shows me speeding up after each turn-around,
and slowing down up a hill about 0.25 miles from the end of each.

After that workout (the LAST of 2023), I'd learn that the same workout was my FIRST outdoor speed session of 2023 as well, but I was a bit faster this time (by 0:03 and 0:05). Just a nice hard workout to end 2023!