May 29th, 2009 – Half Marathon Training Speed Work

First time to do speed work running.  I mean, I’ve posted in prior entries when I’ve run really fast and how fast, but it wasn’t speed work, it was cardiac output work.  Speed work involves duration as well as speed.  I was worried about that duration part though this pace should not have been a significant challenge, or so I thought.

The goal was simple.  I needed to run 7 total miles.  As part of the speed work, I was supposed to run one mile at my speed pace, then job to cool off for half a mile.  I needed three cycles of this to complete the run.  Now, that is only 4.5 miles total.  To compensate, the run explicitly indicates at least one mile of warm up and one of cool down.  That’s still only 6.5 miles so to make it a full 7, I added an additional quarter mile to each.  I started out very slowly, 10:00 miles, as my warm up, but I moved up quickly as the pace just seemed too slow and I realized that I would be running more than an hour at this rate.

I am not really sure how to respond to the results.  It was a failure in pure terms.  I could not complete the third mile at the speed work pace.  The first mile went reasonably well.  I didn’t even cross into zone 4, though I did bump up against the edge of it.  For the second mile, I almost immediately leapt into zone 4 and never really got back out of it.  The first quarter mile was in zone 3, but the last three were distinctly in zone 4.  At least I never reached zone 5.  Heart rate in excess of 183 beats per minute seems REALLY fast.  For the jog between mile 2 and mile 3, I walked for a bit to slow my heart rate, at 15:00 per mile but then ramped it back up to 10:00 per mile pace.  To try to soften the blow (my legs ached) I tried to speed it up to my long run pace of 8:34 miles and then jumped right into the 6:54 pace for the speed mile.  In the third quarter mile, my legs told me to give it up.  I slowed to 10:00 pace for about half of the third lap just to give my legs some rest.  To try to compensate, I ran the last quarter mile at 6:30, but that wasn’t going to recover the total pace.  I fell short by just over .12 miles per hour pace.  I know it means my legs aren’t in top condition.  I know my body likely needs more rest than I’m giving it, but I don’t quite feel a total sense of failure.  I got close, very close.  I have three weeks of running before the next speed work.  While the next one is at an even faster pace, maybe I’ll be more prepared for it.

Housekeeping:  7.0 miles in 1:06:34 for an average pace of 9:30 per mile.  Taking into account that there were several laps at 15:00, the average fell pretty low.  767 calories burned.  The walking really did that part in as well.  I can walk for miles and not burn any calories.

I need to find someone that can help me truly assess what I should take from this run.  I wasn’t pain free, my legs ached, but I didn’t have foot problems, or knee problems, just leg exhaustion.  I do know I’ll push harder next time.

Cheers!