Failed 3x1 Mile Intervals on the Treadmill

I went to the small gym (for anyone not on a sports team) at the university where I teach. I got there REALLY early hoping I could use it... not fully sure of the rules. I was the first one in for the day:

Claiming the right treadmill.


Wide angle shot of the entire gym. It's small!


Right next to a radiator - it was WARM!

I went there to try a 3x1 mile interval workout on a more "responsive" treadmill (ours at home is SLOW to get to speed, and it only shows tenths instead of hundredths of a mile), and because I always feel like running super fast on our treadmill at home is abusive to it. The plan was to do what I did 5 weeks ago, only speed everything up by 0.1 mph: so that meant starting the 3 intervals at 10.9 mph, 11.1 mph, and 11.4 mph (and speeding up twice within each interval).

I took off and immediately liked being able to see the hundredths of a mile. It's not a big deal in easy runs or even in long runs where I run a bit harder. But in more of an "all out" interval, it's nice to have more info than just "Wait... it's reading 0.9 miles, but is it about to click over to 1.0 miles? Or did it just hit 0.9 miles and I have another 30 seconds before 1.0 miles yet?"

First one went well. The second one felt a little harder. And as I got up to speed for the 3rd one, I wasn't sure I'd be able to hold it. Sure enough, I found myself jumping off the treadmill a 1/2 mile into that final mile interval. Dang. But also, I like finding my limit. I've been successfully pushing harder on the treadmill recently, and I knew it wasn't going to last. Bummed I couldn't finish this workout like I had hoped, but also realistic about knowing that would happen one of these days.

Here were my splits:

#1: 2:44 + 2:42 = 5:26.9
0.18 walking: 2:38 (started to speed up at 2:15)

#2: 2:42 + 2:39 = 5:21.5
0.20 walking: 2:40

#3: 2:36 - DEAD after a half mile

Those first 2 intervals were each about 5 seconds faster than this same workout last month, and if I were able to hold on for that 3rd interval, I'd have ran my fastest treadmill mile ever: probably around 5:10-5:12. But it didn't happen.

After a 2 mile cool-down, all of my sweat drips from the workout had dried.
(Yes, I wiped it down well afterwards!)


I stupidly wore a cotton shirt. Here it is in a wet pile post-workout.


2.5 intervals.

This isn't an excuse, but I felt a bit better about "failing" this workout a little later when I remembered that I had a 2 hour trainer ride the day before with 5x10 min intervals in the middle:

Maybe SOME reason for the failed interval workout 16 hours later.

Read more...

Failed Speed Workout (Followed by Good Trainer Ride)

Last week, I was excited because they were predicting 48 hours of above freezing weather from Thursday through Saturday. That meant I could have ice-free paths along River Road to do some speed work on Friday! But when I woke up early that morning, it was foggy. The air was moist. It looked like it could be slick outside as it was 35 degrees.

Down our alley. Look at that ice shine! D'oh.

The sidewalks were OK, so I was hopeful that River Road would be good! But when I ran in the street on some quiet side roads about a mile from home, I noted that the streets were much more slick than the sidewalks - asphalt was "catching" the moisture more than concrete sidewalks.

Foggy down by the river.

The part of the trail where I like to start my 2x2 mile intervals was SLICK. I ran a bit farther, and where I like to do 800s or 400s was OK... for about 200 meters. I hoped it would get better, but it didn't. I turned around after 2 miles, and didn't know if I'd be finding a place to run fast... it was turning into an easy run.

I ran up Marshall Hill thinking maybe I could do hill repeats (of about 0.22 miles), but the top 1/3 of the hill looked like this:

Taken the following day after more melting had occurred... looking down the hill.

I just wasn't finding any LONG ENOUGH section to do any real speed work.

On a last-ditch effort, I ran straight to St. Thomas. Their sidewalks had been nicely cleared, and they were only slick in 2 spots. So I prepped to run a few 800s after warming up for a SUPER long 4.5 miles! Here's my map with 0.25 mile splits being taken... lap 5 is where I like to start 2x2 mile intervals, lap 7 is where I like to run 800s (through lap 9), lap 15 was coming up the hill and finding ice in the last half, and finally the SPEED happened in the orange:

Close-up of the repeats, with a 90 degree turn near the middle.


Resting for 2:00 on the east end. My water bottle and
hoodie were in a tree, hence the walking off the sidewalk.


A looooong "warm-up" on slick sidewalks before 4 quick efforts.
And no cool down because I had logged too many miles already.

My efforts looked like this:

1:22, 1:21 = 1:43.2
1:17, 1:25 = 1:43.5
1:19, 1:22 = 1:42.2
1:17, 1:23 = 1:41.2

Pretty consistant for not running on a track! Each straight-away had an icy spot, but the footing was otherwise decent.

I made up for the lack of speed workout on Friday with a decent trainer workout on Saturday. I started a workout mid-day, but my wife called me upstairs for some "mommy and daddy time" (NOT TURNING THAT DOWN), so it started as 15 mins on the bike followed by me forgetting to stop my Garmin...

... but then a few hours later I got in my REAL workout of 10 x 5 min efforts:

Back with a bit about some FAST long runs shortly!

Read more...

Treadmill Mile Repeats

I did some mile repeats on the treadmill on Friday morning, because it looked like this outside:

View down our alley.

My last *treadmill* workout like that was in Charlotte in February, so I looked back to that workout for treadmill settings. (And I settled on mile repeats because my previous speed day before this was the Turkey Day 5K, so I didn't want to run another 5K tempo again... and before that was a short interval workout at the track.)

In this same workout from February, I started the 3 intervals at 10.8 mph, 11.0 mph, and 11.3 mph, and that was my plan for starting this workout. I wanted to see if I could re-create that workout. And I ended up doing that exactly. My first 2 intervals were similar: ran for 0.4 miles, sped up by 0.1 mph, ran another 0.4 miles, sped up another 0.1 mph, and then held that until the end of the mile. In my 3rd interval, I sped up a few more times: instead of just twice, I think I sped up 3 times (at 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 miles, finishing the last 0.2 miles at 11.6 mph. Here's what I ran:

[taking half-mile splits]

1.3 warm-up (7.8 mph and faster): 3:52, 3:46, 2:14
0.2 miles walking: 2:35

2:46 + 2:45 = 5:31.6
0.2 mile walking: 2:15

2:43 + 2:41 = 5:25.5
0.2 mile walking: 2:05 (speeding up at 1:30, which was right on)

2:40 + 2:35 = 5:16.1

0.3 mile walking: 3:51 (including waking up boys)
1.0 mile cool-down: 3:52, 3:49

Note: our treadmill is SLOW to change speed, so as I noted before the final interval, I have to speed it up after 1:30 rest and it's just barely getting up to speed at 2:05, which is 35 seconds later.

The sweaty treadmill after.


HR was MUCH higher than that!


My Garmin splits.

I've noted this before: my Garmin says my slower treadmill miles are always longer, and my faster treadmill miles are always shorter. It just goes off "arm swing," so I don't know what that says about my form. So I make sure to take splits on my Garmin when the treadmill crosses the correct distance - I don't go by my Garmin for distance while on the treadmill. On a "normal" longer run (not intervals) it averages out to be pretty correct in the end, with my slower miles being "longer" and my faster miles being "shorter."

Well, a decent start to a winter of treadmill speed sessions. I'll try to better that by spring!

Read more...

A New Interval Workout!

I finally did some SHORTER and HARDER intervals!

After the TC 10 Mile seven weeks ago, I backed off a bit. Then I added back speed workouts that were "longer" and slower: some 2x2 mile intervals by the river, then an 8K CC meet that I treated a bit like a tempo run, and finally some mile repeats at the track about a week ago.

This time, I tried something brand new (that our coach posted for our team) that had some of the shortest bursts of speed I've ever done in a workout:

(It was a sub from our regular coach, hence the "last time I subbed" intro.)

I only did 3 rounds of this (not 4) just so I didn't overdo the super fast 100s, but I also cut the rest to 1 minute between intervals, and kept the 2 minutes between sets.

It was one of the coldest mornings of the season in the mid-20s, and there was quite a bit of frost out there...

... but luckily the track wasn't too slick. Just a little on one of the turns.

The only thing I didn't like about this workout is walking across the track to start the 100s. ESPECIALLY starting the 2nd and 3rd sets because I was already tired, got a quick sip of water from near the start/finish line, and then had to walk across the track to start the next 100 even though I wanted more sips of water by the time I got there. And that it's pretty tight walking across the track in 60 secs to be ready to start another interval at the end of each set.

I was happy with my opening splits. And then my splits from the 1st to 3rd sets got faster!! It was a good speedy, snappy workout. Here were my 100, 200, 400, 200, 100 splits for all 3 sets:

0:16.8
0:35.9
1:17.4
0:36.3
0:16.8

0:16.6
0:35.3
1:14.9
0:34.7
0:16.7

0:16.4
0:34.6
1:12.4
0:34.3
0:16.4

Notice how EVERY split got faster in the 2nd set and then faster AGAIN in the 3rd set. Nice!!

Never had a track workout with splits at every corner of the track!


Not used to seeing these "sharp" spikes! Those 100s were wild to run!

Read more...

Mile Repeats at the Track

I'm working my way back to normal speed work. I ran the TC 10 Mile in early October, and then took 3 weeks off from hard running. Then I ran some 2x2 mile intervals at the end of October, just over a week before the USATF MN CC Championship 8K race. Then I had another week off from hard running. And that brings us to the end of last week... it was time to push myself again!

I hit the track for a simple 3x1600 with 3:00 walking rest between. It was dark when I got there, and the sky was just starting to light up:

As common with this time of the year, I had no real goals - just to run hard. (Well, I was also trying to descend my times, but that's always a given.) My first one felt uneventful at 5:38. My second was a bit faster at 5:33 (with a nice 6 sec drop in time from my first 800 to my last 800), and I was appropriately hashed. So when I was starting my 3rd interval, I was hoping to keep my 800s under 2:45 so I could break 5:30. Here's what I ran:

2:50 + 2:47 = 5:38.1
2:49 + 2:43 = 5:33.5
2:46 + 2:39 = 5:26.6

The final 800s were 0:03, 0:06, and 0:07 faster than the opening 800s, and that felt good!

Sweaty selfie at 35 degrees after my final interval,
with the "vein of approval" out in my forehead.


Lots of laps, with 800 splits.


Normal pace chart, but a HR chart that is clearly off.
(I was NOT maxxing out with my HR in the 160s!)

Here's an interesting metric that I never look at: I noticed that my "running power" spiked at the start of each interval, and then along the homestretch which was into the wind. I had to look into how my Garmin figures power data, and it makes sense. So note the 5 tiny spikes in each interval (starting, and then into the wind on the homestretch 4 times):

I don't know how to "use" power data while running, so it's just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And then on the cool-down home, I tripped and busted open my pinky fingernail. Oops. That was 3 days ago, and it's all healing fine. My pinky swelled up pretty badly that day, and my palm is still sore, but it could have been a lot worse!

Read more...

Nice Training Week: Normal, but Better!!

Saturday's post was about a NORMAL long run after 4 weeks of not-normal training (because of 2 races and then recovery). Well that long run a week ago kicked off a very NICE and NORMAL week of training! (With my last really normal training week coming about 6 weeks before that, which contained my last really normal outdoor training ride as well.)

Here's what this nice normal week looked like:

I've been out of the pool for about a month, so there's no swims. And I was hoping Saturday's ride would be outside, but when I had my window to workout, it was still mid-40s and raining, so NO THANKS - I stayed indoors on the trainer. And my strength time is HIGH for most of these workouts!

• MON: long run and good legs. This is the run I posted about on Saturday. We got home really early that morning from a trip to Chicago, so I just got a few hours of sleep and then got at it!

• TUES: good upper body. 8x everything in a good workout.

• WED: easy run, core, and legs. Nothing fancy, but good core!

• THURS: good upper body, and indoor spin. After 8x for everything on Tuesday, I did 7x on Thursday. And then I hit the trainer for 90 mins doing a simple 3x10 min effort workout.

• FRI: 2x2 mile intervals, core, and legs. Sure, I did a pretty normal long run on Monday, but this was my real test: some SPEED. I did my normal 2x2 mile intervals along the river with 3:00 walking rest between them:

Half-mile splits, a mile out and a mile back for each interval.


Close-up of the start/finish. 4-8 was the first interval, and 9-13 was the last.

I felt like I had forgotten how to run fast when I started the first interval. I was happy with my opening half mile of 2:58, and then not surprised that I had let up a little bit with the next one (3:03). I started a bit harder in the 2nd interval, and I really pushed myself for that one! Notice the last split of my FIRST interval was my FASTEST of that interval, but my last split of my LAST interval was my SECOND SLOWEST of that interval... I was hashed!!

2:58, 3:03, 2:53, 2:55 = 11:50.9

2:53, 3:00, 2:50, 2:58 = 11:43.0

• SAT: upper body circuits and trainer ride. Both of these were good! I did 8x upper body (for a total of 23 sets for every upper body muscle for the week!) and then hit the trainer for a longer ride. I wanted this to be outside, but it was still raining when I had time to do my workout, so I was back on the trainer. Damn. Just a basic workout with 4x10 min efforts:

Heart rate shows the workout.

• SUN: rest day with walking and core.

That FELT like a nice normal week of training! The first in a WHILE! I finally had some higher "intensity minutes" logged last week

1766 mins, which is actually the 12th biggest all year.
(After 5 weeks of 1000-1300 minutes.)


Also (randomly) almost set a weekly PR for steps! I was over 165K,
and just a few hundred from my biggest week in early June.

This week won't be QUITE as big, but I still hope it's decent!

Read more...

Thirsty (for knowledge) Thursday: Reversing Heart Aging

The Running Week shared the results from an interesting 2-year study about heart health as you age:

A new 2-year study led by Dr. Ben Levine at UT Southwestern found that just 5 hours of weekly exercise including two Norwegian 4×4 interval sessions can actually reverse 20 years of heart aging in adults over 50.

Researchers took a group of sedentary but otherwise healthy adults and split them into two groups: one did light yoga and stretching, while the other followed a structured aerobic and resistance training plan.

The results? After two years, those who trained consistently had hearts that looked and functioned like they were two decades younger. Their heart walls became more elastic, their pumping power improved, and their risk of heart disease dropped dramatically.

The secret wasn’t magic it was consistency. The plan required about 5 hours a week of exercise, mixing moderate aerobic work with short bursts of intensity through the Norwegian 4×4 method: four minutes of effort, three minutes of recovery, repeated four times.

Experts say the message is clear: Even after decades of inactivity, it’s never too late to turn things around.

Start small, stay consistent, and remember your heart has an incredible ability to heal and adapt. Because science just proved that at any age, you can literally train yourself younger.

The short post noted the basics of the "Norwegian 4x4 workout," but there's more detail about that in this Men's Health article.

For more "Thirsty Thursday" posts that highlight workouts, body science, and all kinds of interesting information, CLICK HERE. As always, back with some "Friday Funnies" tomorrow.

Read more...

Throwing a Wrench in TC 10 Mile Training with Intervals

When Coach Jen coached me to a 59:05 10 Mile in 2010, I had a duathlon I wanted to do about a month out from the 10 Mile, so Jen worked that into my training plan.

When I re-used Coach Jen’s workouts for last year’s TC 10 Mile (which ended up just being a few seconds slower than my 14-year-old PR!), the Square Lake Sprint Triathlon fit perfectly into that training plan on the same weekend as that duathlon 14 years earlier. That triathlon last year was my 4th year in a row of doing that race - a streak that won’t be continuing this year. Dang.

So knowing that those weekends weren’t going to line up like last year AND knowing that I’d be out of town with family on the Friday that my first hard track workout was supposed to start, I just let the plan be more free-form. I did the first hard track workout a week early, and then when I was out of town the following week, I did the 2nd hard workout from Jen, which was a tempo run.

All of that is to say that this past Friday, I was a week ahead in my training which was the Friday right before the triathlon (which isn’t happening for me this year). So I jumped TWO weeks ahead in my speed work training and found another hard track workout. This was like the kick-off track workout from a few weeks back, but with shorter rest: 4x1600 with 2:00 total rest between, working to descend the intervals.

Last year, these averaged 5:33.2 as I just barely lost the perfect descend by dying on the last interval (running 5:39, 5:34, 5:28, and 5:30). I didn’t have major goals for this year, but I figured it “would be nice” to start in the upper 5:30s and see if I could be faster than 5:25 for the final one. (As I type that out, I realize that’s a pretty tight window to descend! And I see that would have my fastest interval faster than my fastest from last year... Yikes.)

My first one was a BIT slow, but not bad at 5:41. The 2nd was faster. And the 3rd was faster yet at 5:31. I was “going for broke” in the final one, but my opening 800 was rough. I tried to pick up the pace in the last half (which I WAS able to do), but I was hurting. My times were just a BIT slower than I had hoped, but I got my nice descend:

2:51 + 2:49 = 5:41.4
2:46 + 2:47 = 5:34.3
2:46 + 2:44 = 5:31.1
2:46 + 2:41 = 5:27.8

And to be fair, times could have been SLIGHTLY slower because there were some benches to run around at the 150 meter mark of each lap, as well as 2 guys that appeared to be setting up a mini stage during my workout at the 350 meter mark, so I was swinging wide at times.

Mini stage going up right on the 2 Ss of “O’Shaughnessy.”
(Notice how I swung wide on all but my first green warm-up lap.)


Pace and Heart Rate. I don’t think my HR was measuring correctly as I was well over 165, I’m SURE!

So I averaged 5:33.7 this year, and 5:33.2 last year. I'm THRILLED to just give up a half second this year! This workout along with my long run last week makes for 2 solid speed days for the TC 10 Mile! I won't be keeping many more (if any) workouts this close to last year's splits, but these 2 were nice!

Read more...

TC 10 Mile Training: NOTHING Like Last Year

Last year, the first few weeks of TC 10 Mile training went REALLY well. I was following workouts I was given by Coach Jen 15 years ago, and I was posting splits right in the range of where I was back then when I ran my 59:05 10 mile PR. And then I ended up running my 2nd best 10 mile ever last year with a 59:23 when I was just hoping to break 61 minutes. (DREAMING of breaking 60, which I heartily did!)

But after a fun June this year with less strict training, I learned I was NOT in the same shape in mid-July as I was last year. I had no big plans to post another fast TC 10 Mile time this fall, and my easier summer absolutely confirmed that!

But I still decided to do some of the same workouts as 15 years ago (and last year), but with the knowledge they’d be substantially slower.

I’m just over 3 weeks in to those similar workouts, and it’s a little depressing watching my crappier splits.

Here's a breakdown of some of the speed workouts over these last few weeks:

• The first speed workout of 4x1600 with 4:00 rest ended up being of similar speed as last year! (Here's a post about that workout, and I was just 0:01 slower on average for each interval this year.) I didn’t think that was going to last, but I was happy to kick of my training on a good note!

• The next speed workout was the pseudo-failed descending 4 mile tempo on a flat trail near Alexandria. It was a GREAT place to do that workout, but I just didn’t have it in me.

• Just over a week ago, I did 2x2 mile intervals along the river, and that was the biggest kick in the pants. I did this same workout 1.5 years ago in 11:28 and 11:24, but this time I struggled and only hit 11:51 for both intervals. Last year, I felt like it was a bad workout, and I hit 11:42 and 11:27... that's an extra OUCH for this year.

• And this past Friday, I did a longer speed workout of 8x (3 mins hard, 3 mins easy). My Garmin is set to take 1/2 mile splits, and last year I was running 2:40 to 2:50 for the first 1/2 mile for most of the intervals (and then another 0:10 to 0:20 to hit the full 3:00 for each interval). This year, I ran 2:50 to 2:57 for the first 1/2 mile of most of the intervals, only getting the final interval to start with a faster 2:46 half-mile split.

I ended up running 0.44 miles shorter over the 48 minutes of the "8x(3 mins hard, 3 mins easy)" which is substantial - that breaks down to 0.15 miles farther during the efforts, and 0.29 miles farther during the easy running. I was aware during the workout that the efforts were slightly slower, but I didn't realize at the time how much slower the recovery runs were in between the efforts.

I did an out-and-back course, so here are efforts #5-8 on the way "back" as they are covering efforts #1-4:

Easy to see the 8 efforts in my pace and heart rate.

And here's a post about a hard mid-week workout from eariler in the month too. I didn't run hard on my mid-week run last week due to injury concerns, and I haven't decided if I'll push the pace this week. We'll see!

In the meantime, I'm just working on not being depressed about running slower splits. I KNOW I won't be running sub-60 this year, and I just need to be putting in the efforts to do what I can... and I need to let go of what last year's splits were.

Read more...

Two Wednesday Workouts: Moderate and Hard!

Wednesdays are usually just 100% easy days for me - just getting in some miles. But the last 2 have had some effort as I'm ramping up a bit for the TC 10 Mile.

LAST WEDNESDAY I just ran some hills. Nothing hard or crazy, but I searched out some hills while "up north" with my family instead of running on the super flat former rail line that I biked on. Here was my elevation post-run:

And then THIS WEDNESDAY (yesterday) I did something harder. I did some hill repeats up and down the Marshall Hill like I did last year:

Intervals between split #8 and #19.


Starting at the bottom of the hill at ALWAYS the same spot...


...and ending at the top. The 3rd interval was split #9
which was a bit shorter to avoid another runner.

I did 8 intervals, just trying to keep them all hard. I LOOSELY looked back to old "Coach Jen" workouts (which is what this was), but I'm not doing them very religiously this year - no big goals this year: just not to set a PW in the 10 mile. So I had no time goals, I didn't know what I ran last year, and I just ran hard up the hill and easy down the hill. Here's my elevation chart from the run:

Looking at the numbers after the workout, I saw that last year I started easier and then pushed harder as I went. And technically THAT was the way the workout was drawn up. This year, I just treated them like intervals and ran them all hard. I started with 1:33 and 1:33 last year, and then had the last 2 both at 1:20. This year, I kept them more even, and this is what I ran:

All intervals were 0.23 miles

1:23
1:24
1:17 (shorter at 0.22 miles to avoid a runner)
1:23
1:20
1:20
1:18
1:20

So they averaged a bit better than last year, but my "rest" times running down the hill were also a bit slower this year.

Now to see if my legs feel good enough for a hard run tomorrow!

Read more...

"Distance" Intervals... Kicking Off TC 10 Mile Training

I guess yesterday's workout was the official start of my TC 10 Mile training. I'm NOT going hard with my training like I did last year which got me to my 2nd fastest 10 mile of 59:23 - it was fun to look back at Coach Jen's old training workouts from 2010 when she coached me to my 59:05 10 mile PR, but I don't feel like doing that again this year. (And, with June's busy schedule and therefore crappy training, I feel like I'm waaaaay behind where I should/could be at.)

My training in 2010 and 2024 kicked off with a descending 4x1 mile at the track with a longer 4 minutes between each interval. So I figured I'd do that as my first interval session that wasn't 200s, 400s, or 800s since this spring - it was truly a shift towards distance training as the Raspberry Run 1 Mile was 2 weeks ago.

I didn't have major goals, but I wanted to make sure to get faster and drop time. When I ran a 5:32 first interval, I didn't know if I'd be able to keep running each interval faster. That'd be a great start if I can keep it up, but it'd be TOO FAST if I run out of steam. The goal was to stay fast and suffer.

I still had the descend going as I started the 4th and final interval, and I was "going for broke" and trying to hit 5:15 (under 2:40 for half-mile splits). But my legs just couldn't do that. I still got my descend, but just BARELY:

2:47 + 2:45 = 5:32.2
2:44 + 2:41 = 5:26.0
2:41 + 2:40 = 5:21.9
2:42 + 2:39 = 5:21.6

AVE: 5:25.43

That was honestly better than I thought it would be! This "kick off" workout back in 2010 averaged 5:29, and last year it averaged 5:24 (just 1 second faster/interval than this workout). That's a good start to 10 mile training! Still... I'm not going to follow Coach Jen's intense workouts from 15 years ago... although I'll grab a few of them here-and-there maybe...

These last few days, we've had nasty "air quality" alerts as we have been at a 4 out of a possible 5 because of some wildfires in Canada. Those intervals were with some THICK air, and my ride this morning started super hazy:

The sun is that orange glow in the trees to the left.


An hour later crossing the Mississippi.


Just a long moderate ride: 38 miles at 19 mph, adding in lots of extra little hills.

Read more...

Bike Intervals (Finally!)

Since June and early July were so busy (and I was focusing more on getting in quality RUNNING workouts), my bike speed has been lacking. So the day after I did my final track workout before tomorrow's 1-mile race, I headed out for some bike intervals. I didn't have a ton of time, so I set my Garmin to take auto splits at 3.5 miles and figured I'd do 4 x 3.5 mile intervals with 3:00 easy riding between.

I took off down the Greenway Trail and started my intervals just across the Hiawatha Bridge so they could be wrapped up before the construction just past the lakes:

There was a breeze from the west (or at least I HOPED SO) because my first interval was slow. But then my 2nd was fast, so whew... it was just the wind. Just a quick decent workout:

#1: 10:53, 19.3 mph (18.7 mph halfway)
3:00 easy, 0.79 miles, 15.7 mph

#2: 8:53, 23.6 mph (23.4 mph halfway)
2:51 easy, 0.69 miles, 14.5 mph

#3: 10:34, 19.9 mph (19.0 mph halfway)
2:51 easy, 0.78 miles, 16.4 mph

#4: 8:47, 23.9 mph (23.5 mph halfway)

My Garmin speed shows the wind out there, as #1 and #3 were slower, and #2 and #4 were faster:

Intervals highlighted in red at the bottom.

It was my first real bike effort in over 4 weeks, and that wasn't a great workout. My last real hard bike effort was the Oakdale Duathlon 6 weeks ago. I need to keep hitting the bike hard! (But it's fun to be running decently and putting in solid running workouts! I just need to find a better balance of "saving my legs for run workouts by not biking hard" and "still getting in fast bike workouts.")

ONE MILE RACE HAPPENING SOON! Check back for a race report!

Read more...