Mile Intervals

Pete thinks its funny that I kind of think of my blog friends as real friends. But they are real people and they really do affect my life and inspire me! Today while I did my speed work I was channeling the Boston Marathon runners and thinking about the ones I "know," Sam, Page, and Adrianne (who had a baby even more recently than me, and yes, I said she was running Boston!). I can't even imagine ever qualifying for Boston so these people amaze me!

Then tribirdie's theme song came on. It took me a minute to figure out what the song was because I've only listened to it a few times, but once I realized what it was and who it reminded me of, I clicked my speed up a notch and gave that interval all I had! Tribirdie's really fast too, she's training to try to qualify for Kona this year!

Anyway, the intervals I did today were miles. Three of them! I was going to do them on the high school track, but when I walked outside, it was pouring rain so I decided to just run to the gym and do my intervals on a treadmill.

The gym is almost half a mile away so I ran around the indoor track for about 5 minutes after I got there, then stretched before getting on the machine. I was not looking forward to running on the treadmill because I knew it would be hard and that I would just hate it, but I figured it would be good for keeping me at the pace I wanted to try for.

My goal was to do 9 minute miles. I know that doesn't sound fast at all to some of you, but to me, right now, that was plenty hard!

I did the first mile in 9:13 just because it takes a minute to get the treadmill going fast. Afterwards, I walked for a little while, then jogged until I had recovered for a quarter mile before starting the next one.

I don't know exactly how long it took me to do the next mile because I forgot to look at the time when I started, but it would have been right around 9 since the treadmill was already going.

I took a break, ran to the bathroom and got a drink before I started my last mile, then it took me 9:08. That last one was really hard! I actually had it turned up a notch faster than 9 min/mile pace for most of it, but had to turn it back down for the last quarter mile. I actually almost stopped there because I didn't know if I could do it. I was worried I would pass out or just fall off the treadmill! I didn't stop, though. I finished out my interval! Then I went slow for .25 before heading back home. I felt a little dizzy as I slowly jogged home, but it was fine. I was just happy I was able to do it all!

In total I ran about 4.5 miles and it took me about an hour.

When I got home I had to hurry and stretch then take Ethan to the doctor to get some antibiotics for his ear infection. The poor kid has been miserable all weekend! We thought maybe it was getting better last night, but it wasn't. The guy at the pharmacy asked me if I was a runner, and at first I was flattered, but then realized he probably just saw my BAM shirt and figured it out. :)

Once I got all that taken care of, I did a 15 minute workout on my Nike Training Club app called "Ab Burner" and they weren't kidding about that! I'd say this is a good start to the week.

It's spring break for the kids so I'm going to have to think of ways to keep them from killing each other or driving me crazy for the next week, but I also won't have to hurry back from my morning workouts to get them to school so that's really nice!