Intervals on River Road

The track was still coated with snow yesterday, so I hit the plowed bike/pedestrian trail along River Road yesterday morning in the rain. I had a windbreaker on so I didn't get soaked, but I draped it in a tree before starting my first interval.

Workout when I was done. Into a breeze for my even intervals.

I did a workout I'd done a number of times (but always on the track before): 4x800 with 2:00 rest, then 4x400 with 1:00 rest. I set my Garmin to 0.25 mile intervals before starting my run, so I let it take "auto laps" to tell me when to finish each interval.

Close-up of the intervals: the 800s were from lap 23 to 9, and the 400s were lap 23 to 24.


Close-up of starting the 800s and 400s. Blue "wiggle" was putting my coat in a tree.


Mid-way for the 800s, or starting/finishing the 400s.


Far end of the 800s.

The trail wasn't slick, but I DID try to avoid puddles a bit. I really had no excuses: I was just there to run hard! The ODD intervals were SLIGHTLY uphill, and the EVEN intervals were SLIGHTLY downhill but into the wind. (I felt the wind more than anything.) And I picked a spot that was relatively flat, and an area that was well-lit as I didn't want to be running hard on an uneven/dangerous trail. As I was running my first 800, I realized I didn't have any goals in mind. I didn't know what to expect as it had been 3 months since doing shorter intervals, but I hoped to be around 2:40 and then get faster. And my first one came in a 2:40.9. Here's what I ran:

4x800 with 2:00 rest, then 4x400 with 1:00 rest:

1:19 + 1:21 = 2:40.9
1:19 + 1:18 = 2:37.5
1:19 + 1:19 = 2:39.1
1:17 + 1:18 = 2:36.0

1:14.1
1:11.3
1:13.8
1:15.3

Ave 800: 2:38.38
Ave 400: 1:13.63

The 800s started to hurt, but then it's "fun" (kinda) to bust out some shorter 400s. And note that last 400: it was my slowest as I was DYING. I ran these well!

I had taken off my mittens and hat and added them to the tree with my coat after my 2nd 800, but then I put everything back on for the damp jog home - it had started raining a little harder by then too, but still nothing nasty.

I last did this workout in May (and it was nearly my fastest iteration of this workout), and I was surprisingly close to those times this week! (Extra shocking because I wasn't on a track this time!) My 800s were about 3.5 sec faster back in May, and my 400s were only 0.13 faster back then! I'm thinking my calf is all healed up and I can keep up some semi-regular speed work.