A PR Interval Workout

Two weeks after possibly my best interval workout ever on the track, I did it again. Only this time I wasn't even trying.

In my weekend post, I noted getting some snow on Mon and Tues of last week. On Wednesday morning, the paved trail along River Parkway wasn't even plowed, and it looked like this around noon on my way back from class:

When I took off for my run on Friday, I wasn't feeling the best. I figured I'd skip any speed work and just run easy. But then my first half mile felt good and was 3:33. And my 2nd half mile also still felt good, and was ALSO 3:33. "OK..." I thought, I think this means I should run hard. I planned to run 2x2 mile intervals on a stretch of trail that I usually don't run along: starting north of the Lake/Marshall bridge running south (down and up under the bridge), and then up that bigger hill near the hairpin turn by St. Thomas and back down the other side. I rode it on Wednesday after the snow and it was RELATIVELY clear (as that was where it was plowed) - it would be fine for running, but maybe tricky in spots while running HARD.

When I got down to the unplowed trail from 2 days earlier, IT WAS COMPLETELY CLEAR. Like TOTALLY clear. The March sun has power, and it melted everything off the trail in less than 48 hours. And there was a flock of turkeys blocking the road maybe 0.15 miles ahead, and turkeys are sort of a "lucky" animal on my runs. So at the last minute, after leaving home planning on just doing an easy run, I decided to do 2x2 mile intervals on my normal stretch of paved trail.

I didn't have any major goals, but was just ready to run hard. I missed my water bottle - I suck a lot of water down on the treadmill while running hard over the winter, and I usually bring a water bottle during a hard workout like this. But not today when I literally just decided to do this workout.

I ran past the turkeys with a FAST first half mile of 2:49. I didn't get excited, as it was the first half mile of 2x2 mile intervals. I was happy I was running hard, but I wondered if I could keep my 2nd split under 3:00. Well, I hit that in 2:55, and then turned into the slight breeze. So now the goal was to run hard into the wind. Here's what I ran:

2:49, 2:55, 2:48, 2:54 = 11:28.4

3:01 walking rest

2:49, 2:54, 2:47, 2:52 = 11:24.5

I've never had them both under 11:30!! Six years ago, I hit the trail for my first hard running of the year with this workout in 12:04 and 12:14. Last year at this time of year, I ran 11:42 and 11:38. I ended last year a few months back with this workout in 11:39 and 11:33.

AND THE BIGGEST NEWS OF THIS WORKOUT IS THAT SEVEN YEARS AGO, I did this workout on a flatter trail (the Greenway) and set my PR for this workout with a 11:38 and 11:24. AND I BYPASSED THAT ON FRIDAY!! IT'S AN "OLD MAN STEVE" PR!!

My pace shows nothing special: it appears I turned into the breeze at the half-way point of each interval and kept a solid/steady pace, and then it dipped going up the hill back into St. Paul before hitting the finish of each interval:

Feelin' good about my running!