Intervals FTW!

Did 7 miles through the Hillcrest and Downtown areas this afternoon. I employed to interval technique I used when coming back from a foot injury in June. I'd run 5 minutes and then speedwalk for 1 minute.

I certainly wasn't fast, but I finished them with pretty consistent splits, averaging between 10:32 and 11:42 per mile with all the walking. While I hate not maintaining a sub-10:00 mile, the really great thing about this is that I'm not in any pain. There is general soreness, but my hip isn't screaming out at me.

I'll definitely employ this technique at Carlsbad, and possibly for all races until I get more experiences with long distance running. I'll be experimenting with different intervals, like 5/1 v. 9/1, and see what works best.

Carlsbad is January 25. I think I'll try to increase mileage until January 11, and then taper a little bit. Something like this...

12/29 - 1/4: M-XT, Tu-4, W-XT, Th-5, F-XT, Sa-10, Su-OFF

1/5-1/11: M-XT, Tu-4, W-XT, Th-5, F-XT, Sa-12, Su-OFF

1/12 - 1/19: M-XT, Tu-4, W-XT, Th-5, F-XT, Sa-8, Su-OFF

1/19 - 1/25: M-XT, Tu-4, W-XT, Th-4, XT, Sa-OFF, Su-RACE!-13.1.

XTing will consist of spinning classes and weight training.

I'm really looking forward to this! Glad that my body is finally cooperating. :)

Oh my

Just realizd the Carlsbad 1/2 is in a month... I've barely been hitting 13 miles a week TOTAL, and haven't gotten anywhere close to double digits on a "long" run.

Taking the new 859's out for a spin. Looks like the 1/2 will be more an exercise in walk/run intervals than actual racing strategy... Oops.