Its interval time once again. I love interval and hill training. Most runners think I’m crazy, but I’m built for this sort of thing.
Running intervals and hills requires short bursts of speed, followed by a brief rest period. These are two things I‘m good at; running fast over a short distance, followed by NOT running.
I also like interval and hill training for a few other reasons. It’s a great workout that kicks my butt and leaves me whipped. I love that. Plus it’s just plain fun to run fast. Ever see a dog or an infant run? They run with reckless abandon and smile and giggle the whole time (yes, dogs giggle). Tell me they’re not having loads of fun. It’s the closest feeling to flying that I can think of. Sometimes towards the end of the workout, I’ll actually finish with my arms sticking out, mimicking an airplane and swerve along the road yelling “Wooo!” It also makes you feel strong, being able to move that fast (versus the slow poke I am for the long runs).
The other part is more of an appreciation of what the intervals or hills do for my long runs later. Next time out for a long run and I’m breathing so easily and everything feels almost effortless. Awesome! “Hills are like spinach!” you’ll often hear me say. (Hill training has a more profound impact on the long runs for me.) Ok, if you don’t get this joke, think Popeye and spinach.
The part of running intervals and hills that I don’t like? It brings out all the aches & pains you thought were gone. If something is a bit achy (tight calves, hams, etc), then running fast will aggravate that. So it’s a risk you take, but I’ve learned to listen to my body and be smart.
I used to run this type of training “full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes” and would push myself beyond what I should and injury something. Strained hams, calves, etc. and then I couldn’t run for weeks afterwards. I just let my enthusiasm get carried away. Now I’ve learned to listen to my body when the warning signs start and take heed. It’s just not worth it to push on when things flare up and injury yourself, especially when you are training for a specific upcoming race and you just can’t afford the time off your training schedule. It’s not fun to have to dial it down, but it’s the right/smart thing to do if you want to continue to run afterwards.
I’m also like a metronome when running intervals. Often we’ll do a set of 10 X 800 meters and my times for all 10 are within 1 second apart. Mr. Consistency is what coaches have called me. Sweet!
Alas, tonight’s intervals present a different challenge. We’re home from work just before 6 pm and Noah has a soccer game at 7:10pm, Gracie’s soccer game is at 7:20pm, both lasting about 1 hr. Nancy
So we start with an easy 2k warm up run, more stretching and then 800m interval, rest 2 min and repeat for 10 times. End with an easy 2k. This whole process often takes a long time when we run with the group at 6:15pm. So if we start by 9pm, just how long will I be out there? I should be in bed at 10pm to get up for work at 5:30am. Hmm…don’t see that happening. Do we totally bail on running tonight? That’s not really an option either. Maybe just run a few intervals and shorten the workout. That’s probably the smart thing to do, but knowing me, during the 6th interval at about 10 pm, I’ll say “just a few more, I’ll sleep later.” Maybe Friday night I’ll catch up on sleep. Nope. Up early on Saturday for a long ass run of 26k. With the heat lately I’ll probably want to start the Saturday morning run at 6am, which means wake up at 5am. I’ll go to bed on Friday at 8 or 9pm. Again, that would be the smart thing to do, but that never happens either.
So tonight if you drive past our house in the dark hours of the night, you can see this nutbar with his blinking LED lights, pretending he’s an airplane and running around in circles.
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