"Speedwork", or "Gen plays beat the clock"

Given my lackluster performance in my last 5k and 10k, I decided that it was time to start kicking things up a notch and finally do what I've been putting off for so long.  Speedwork.  Or as I like to call it, torture of a very quick and breathless kind.  I'm not sure why I've been so hesitant to do speedwork.  maybe I've been afraid of finding out just how slow I am, or regressing back into that fat girl who couldn't run a quarter mile in gym class.  It also doesn't help that I injured my hip after a particularly nice fast run, so I've associated speedwork with injury, which is stupid, but that's how my mind works.

So today, I bit the bullet.  If I ever want to get faster and reach more of my potential, speedwork is going to have to happen.  Haakan's always saying he thinks I should take his advice, so I picked his brain a bit and we decided that I should do two mile repeats with a quarter mile walking recovery, and I should aim for around 8:30 for my pace.  So, all well with the world, I set off for the reservoir to do my mile repeats, not at all sure this is a good idea and feel like a big weenie that my speedwork pace is his easy pace.  I jogged up to the reservoir and did a lap and a third so that I could start my intervals at the water fountain, then use the quarter mile walk to walk back to the water fountain so that I could get a drink before I tried the insanity again.

8:30 was my goal pace, but I ended up doing the first mile at 7:53.  And though it was exhausting and I was glad to hit that one mile mark, it also felt great to run that fast.  It was like a whole different experience.  It was actual RUNNING, no question about it, and it's something I wish I could do for longer periods of time.  And without feeling like my lungs were going to pop, or that I was going to lose my bowels (yeah, my stomach was upset, but at least I didn't throw up or anything).  So I walked back to the water fountain, got my heart rate back down to a respectable level, and did it again.  And it was hard.  Again.  But I did my second mile repeat at 7:51, and really, there wasn't a whole lot left in the tank after that.  I don't know that I could have done it much faster.  Did I pick a pace that was a bit too kicky?  Probably, but part of the problem lies in not exactly knowing what an 8:30 pace feels like.  And that always tends to be my problem - I go out too fast because I just don't feel it yet.  It's not internalized and I always have to guess, and I guess wrong a lot.

All in all, not a bad day's run.  I ended up with 5 miles total, two of them wicked fast.  For me, anyway.  I feel a little bit less cool knowing that my fast interval pace is about the pace Haakan maintained for the WHOLE marathon two weeks ago.  But you never know, I might get there myself some day.