Saturday 20 November 2010

I did my first interval session today.  Knowing what a suck I can be, I'm starting easy with the speed and hillwork, or else I'll be able to talk myself out of second sessions.

Last week I did my first hills and loved them.  I found a hill that is probably a little short - 180m - but it's steepish and on a road by the Humber River that is currently closed to cars.  I did about a mile warm-up, then sprinted up the hill and walked back down, planning to do this 4 times but ended up doing it 8 because it wasn't so hard.  Hurray for me!  Next week I'll either do 10 or 12 times or jog downhill instead of walking.  But not both. Baby steps.

Today I ran to my oldest son's high school track, which was okay with him since it's Saturday and there was little chance of anyone he knew seeing me.  I planned to do 8 x 400m with 2 minute recovery in between (and let me tell you, I milked those 2 minutes with total walking).  After 3 times I was ready to cut down the reps but I sucked it up and did all 8.  I had my Garmin beeping at the right times, but hadn't realized that I wouldn't know my paces until I was done.  I had a vague goal of having all my reps under 10 minute miles and was pleasantly surprised when I was done that I rocked it.  Time to expect more from myself, I guess.  My lap paces were as follows:

1 - 8:25
2 - 8:04 (thought next time I should reduce recovery to 1 min)
3 - 8:33
4 - 8:18 (thought 2 min recovery was just fine)
5 - 8:33
6 - 9:05 (thought I should increase recovery to 5 min)
7 - 8:46
8 - 9:21 (yah, I was tired.)

The recovery time paces probably tell the story more -- very funny to see how much slower I walked each time.  Got to learn to pace myself, but I'm happy with my first effort.  Didn't think I could run that fast.

If that 14 year old son of mine was still 2 years old, his head would be exploding with excitement because we have some new toys in our backyard.

These are life-sized, baby!

Since the kids weren't interested, Phil and I went out and played in the dark after the construction guys left.


 


The pool should be ready just in time for Christmas, as long as Western Canada keeps its snow to itself.  Maybe I should learn how to swim.

4 comments:

  1. Well done on the hill work and intervals! These will make you stronger!

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  2. Yikes! Hills scare me. My legs are still wimpy to tackle those hills with gusto!

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  3. Hills are my enemy...I envy that you enjoy them!! Maybe with enough time I will learn to love them too.

    Whereabouts is the track that you are running? I live in Toronto and want to find a good one that I can use for speed work.

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  4. @ Samantha -- I just go to the local high school (Etobicoke CI). The track is in rough shape, as long as it's not raining it works fine. I rely on my Garmin for distance, but noticed the track was pretty much bang on 400m.

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