Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Mile repeats at Iffley Road

Mile repeats are my favorite workout. Unfortunately, I only do them about once a year. Fortunately, today was one of those days.

I am currently in the process of molding my body to the task of running 13.1 miles at 6:00 pace. So I ran six mile repeats with 90 seconds rest, in 6:00 or just under.

Well, that's not quite true. In the middle of repeat #4, I took an unscheduled pit stop. So repeat #4 was more like a 1009m, a several-minute break, and then a 600. Then 90 seconds rest, and back to our regularly scheduled program. I was kind of annoyed about this pit stop, occurring as it did in the middle of an interval, and giving me too much rest. However, it was non-optional. That's just the way it goes sometimes.

On the bright side, I had been really working hard during repeat #4 and was thinking of stopping after 4, but after my excessive rest interval, I felt nice and recovered, so I went ahead and did two more miles and finished the workout.

Previously, the most mile repeats I'd ever done was five, in a workout a few years ago with my friend Melissa. That time, we also did them in just under 6:00 -- but we had more rest, and I think they were 1600s. My workout today was on the Roger Bannister track at Iffley Road. I did miles. To do 1600s would have been disrespectful.

Well, that's not quite true. I once did nine mile repeats. But it was really just a way to break up a 20-mile long run.

I like this idea of "molding my body to a task." I think it's the right way of looking at the goal. So I am working on teaching my body to relax and enjoy hanging out at 6:00 pace. The more time I spend there, the better. Six miles in the books.

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