It took me three weeks to do this workout, one of my first tests on the road to last year's Marine Corps Marathon.
This time around, I wanted to find out where I was at via the 12 by 400 (with a 1/4-mile recovery) intervals.
Doing intervals last year had a fighter aircraft feel to it. I'd jog down to Piedmont Park for a warmup mile and then would turn on the afterburners for the required distance, jog the required distance and repeat until I had to trot back home for a final mile.
I always thought the speed workouts as prescribed by the Hanson Marathon Method would be incredibly beneficial for shorter races.
I felt sluggish going into my first interval, but near the end I really felt like I was getting the hang of it. I could have done 14, 16, or more of them. When I was running fast, I was not breathing hard. It made me wonder just how fast I could do it.
When I got home, I felt like there was validation that my speed was still there. Here are my quarter-mile splits in a pace per mile format:
Mile 1: 7:45, 7:24, 7:25, 7:11
Mile 2: 6:57, 7:11, 7:15, 6:36
Mile 3: 6:58, 7:20, 7:31, 7:41
Although I'd heard about speed work in my nearly three decades of running, I really never was motivated to do it until it was prescribed for marathon training. It makes sense that if you're trying to accomplish a certain time in a race that you practice that pace until it's old hat on race day.
Time: 3:44 p.m.
Temp: 52 degrees
Gear: Technical T-shirt short (Doug Kessler 10K), shorts, Skechers Go Run 2.
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