Seattle Half 08 - Run 5 of 63

Distance: 2 mile speed
Time: 20:20
Course: Loop from home

I was supposed to do this run on Thursday, then yesterday, and wimped out both times because of the heat. Today, though, we spent the afternoon in an air-conditioned theatre watching Tropic Thunder and the first part of the evening in the air-conditioned bedroom watching the Olympic swimming and running. Paula Radcliffe finishing 23rd in the marathon, running basically on one leg after a horrible three months leading up to the Olympics? Yeah, time for me to suck it up and do my measly two 1-mile intervals.

We warmed up with a 1-mile jog, and then started at the corner of the block for the first interval. I tried to be steady all the way through, and truthfully was waiting the entire time to just completely lose it. The plan says 2 one-mile intervals at a 10:43 pace; I did the first mile in 10:04, on a slight downhill. Recovery was a half-mile walk/jog over to the next block, and then we started the second mile interval. By this time I was really afraid that I wouldn't even make it to the halfway point, but somehow at the quarter-mile point, I felt myself start to get into a good glide and rhythm. I ran the first half-mile at a 10:49 pace, and then bumped it, going uphill even, to finish the second half-mile at a 10:32 pace.

I need to keep doing speed intervals, because they give me solid evidence that I can, in fact, go significantly faster than my usual 12:00 pace, and over a decent distance as well. Evidence means confidence. This was fun!