Intervals... Just Like I Remember

I've been dreading this day all week. I love to run. I want to run fast. I hate intervals. Actually, this training program calls them "track repeats" but, whatever, they are intervals. For the nonrunners, intervals are when you run a set distance at a fast predetermined pace over and over and over again.

The last time I really ran intervals was in high school. I ran cross-country and track. The most common one we ran were 400m intervals, 12 or 16 at a time. I used to run them in 100 seconds for cross-country and 90 seconds for track. The only good thing about those days was the feeling of accomplishment once you suffered through the whole workout. I guess I just don't like to suffer...

The kids had a 2-hour delay this morning on account of the sleet so the whole morning was off to a slow start. After they left, I started thinking about procrastinating. But then, I thought of Beth's mantra at Shut Up + Run and just shut up and went.

It's been 26 years since I graduated from high school and over a year since I did ANY fast running of ANY kind, I had no idea what my pace was suppose to be. My training program bases your pace off your 5K time. I only ran 3 races last year. I did a 5K on March 10th at 26:06, I did an 8K on April 21st with a 3 mile split of 24:44, and my half-marathon on May 5th with a 3 mile split of 26:01... and I really haven't run since. My program spit out a 400m time of 1:56 for a 26:00 - 26:10 5K. I already knew THAT wasn't going to happen today. End result - I decided to wing it and see how I felt.

This is how my twelve 400m intervals went:
1.  2:12
2.  2:07
3.  2:09
4.  2:12
5.  2:26
6.  2:23
7.  2:22
8.  watch malfunction
9.  2:20
10.  2:17
11.  2:19
12.  2:16

I had 90 seconds of rest in between each interval. After interval #4, I decided I was running an unsustainable pace so I backed it off a bit. They were just as sucky as I remember them. Probably suckier because now I'm 44 and had to run them by myself. Anyone want to run them with me next week? Isabelle?

I did a mile warm up and mile warm down so 5 miles total for the day. Tomorrow is a rest day so my first week of training is over. 17 miles total.

I also can across a little "uh...oh" in my program last night. I was re-reading my training book and came across the fact that you are supposed to have been running about 15 miles a week for 3 months before starting this. Ummm...yeah...looking at my calendar, I've run 57 miles in the 3 months before this week. Y'all might be witness to an epic failure.