A good training session...

I was supposed to do it yesterday, but was lazy and decided to watch a couple of episodes of Dexter instead. Also, i was tried from Tuesday and Wednesday's training sessions, but that's another story.

No, today I had lunch with some friends, got my car back, ran some errands, and did a 12 mile workout including a couple of 12 minute tempo runs with a two minute break between. These tempo runs were supposed to be right around my threshold pace- about 7:40 or so.

With the extra snow on the ground I figured somewhere between 7:50 and 8:10 would probably be in order. I mean, my interval pace went from a "supposed" of 7:02 to "in reality" of 7:22.

so i started off running moderate/hard. About a minute in a checked in at about 7:30 something, so I figured I was about on target. I'd get tired, or something would come up, and I'd slow down a bit. And I did... but only to average a 7:45 pace. And I felt... good. Like I could talk in gasps, but still talk. Everything was moving fine, and I didn't feel winded at the end of the interval.

I felt... strong. And it was awfully nice.

the second interval was very much the same- easier, because there were fewer hills. But my heart rate was exactly the same average for both, and my pace was a bit faster for the second at 7:39.

When I hit the end of the second interval, I thought: I can do this. maybe not for a full marathon right now, or a half, but I can get there. And that makes me feel confident, like running at a sub eight minute pace at Martian is a possibility. And breaking the 3:30 barrier would be plenty cool.

so, in light of my last post, perhaps my strength could be in the tempo run. i enjoy them more than intervals, that's for certain. But then, if I didn't have the joy of intervals to compare it to, perhaps the tempo run would be grueling, too. These things are kind of relative...