Big workout tonight. 1 mile warmup at 6:20 pace, then 4, 3, 2, 1 on treadmill with 4,3,2 minutes rest, starting at about half marathon effort and getting slightly faster each rep, then 1 mile cooldown without a watch on the indoor track.. I did a similar workout on a track last April a few weeks before rather easily running 1:15:33 at Provo City Half (with a lot left at the end) and wanted to run a better workout on a treadmill. Last year, on the track, the total time was 59:14, so to run an equivalent workout on a treadmill indicating the same fitness, I'd need to hit sub-56:50 I decided to plan for low-mid 56s to make it a slightly "better" workout without crushing myself (I've been trying to not full-on race my workouts as much this cycle, so as to not leave my legs in training). In hindsight, I mis-timed my rest a little bit and gave myself a bit too much, as I had thought I had done 4,3,2 last time, but had actually done 3,2,1.
Without further ado, times were:
4 miles: 22:58 (5:44.5 pace). Felt very smooth.
4 minutes rest: ended up taking only 3:45. 4 minutes just felt too long. I was itching to get going again after less than 2 minutes.
3 miles: 17:00 (5:40 pace). Last half mile was getting harder, but still felt smooth.
3 minutes rest. Felt a little long, but took the whole thing.
2 miles: 11:05 (5:32.5 pace). First mile was fluid, and second mile was the hardest mile of the workout, as I split this as 5:36/5:29.
2 minutes rest. Was happy to have the full 2.
1 mile: 5:16. Felt pretty fluid. It's not hard to stay engaged for a little over 5 minutes.
Total time for the 10 miles: 56:19. I hit exactly the kind of time I wanted, but should have taken 1 minute less rest per cycle. Overall, it was hard but not super hard, so I'm quite certain that I could've held the same pace with less rest. In all honesty, I'm not even convinced that it would've been much harder; with nearly 4 minutes of rest between reps 1 and 2, my heart rate had dropped a fair amount by the time I started the 2nd rep, and it took a little bit to find my rhythm. With less rest, the 2nd rest would've been easier, while the 3rd might not have changed much, and the 4th probably would've been harder. Maxed out and fully racing, I would estimate my maximum capacity for this kind of workout to be in the ballpark of just under 55 minutes.
Take-aways: I've been getting really confident for March. I've had some really good workouts lately that have strongly indicated to me that I'm going to be able to run fast, but I haven't been beating myself up in the process, which I think is going to be key on race day. I've felt fresh and I've been extremely consistent throughout the entire cycle so far, and I think these factors are going to give me massive benefits.
I'm going to race Winter Series 5k on Saturday, and frankly, I have no idea what to expect. I haven't been training for short stuff, and I generally find it hard to mentally engage for something as short as a 5k, so I find it unlikely that I'll be much faster than, say 17:20. In any case, the entire focus is on the marathon, and I'm only running this series because it's fun/miserable and everyone else is doing it, so I've already promised myself not to put any stock into it one way or the other. If I run well, it's not relevant to a marathon. If I run poorly, that's typical for me in a 5k over the last year, so it doesn't matter.
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