The Need for Speed

Exciting news: I did my first speed workout yesterday!  My training plan called for 4 x 800s and to be honest, I was really nervous about this.  I recruited my nice friend to run with me because I knew if I was wearing my watch then I would stare at it the whole time and psych myself out.  I also figured I would push myself harder if I had someone there with me.  I know that 4 isn't a whole lot, but it was a great way to ease into this new element of my training plan and I'm really happy with my effort.  It went so much better and my confidence is definitely up.  It helps that my friend volunteered to do some of the other workouts with me.  I find a loop on the trail I run on that is .5 miles (convenient) and it ends on a nice flat surface.  It makes workouts much more entertaining having a good friend and a good location.  

Here's how the workout went:

.5 mile warm up: 4:45
.5: 4:00
Walk 3 minutes
.5 mile: 4:05
Walk 3 minutes
.5 mile: 4:05
Walk 3 minutes
.5 mile: 3:58
Walk 3 minutes
Cool down until my Nike+ watch said 3 miles, but I'm pretty sure it was a little over that.
Total (according to Nike+): 3.05 in 27:11.

Not bad.  I know for a lot of people an 8 mile pace is not a challenge.  My training plan officially said "half mile repeats 15 seconds faster than goal pace."  My goal race pace is realistically a 9:35-9:40.  I'll be really happy if I can hold that down for 13.1 miles and I'm pretty sure that I will be able to PR if I can do that (AH!).  My friend encouraged me to run faster because in his words "you need to push if you want to be your best."   Good point, Friend.  Thanks for running with me.  By the end of my plan I  have to do 6 miles worth of repeats.  Whoa.  I'm hoping those with my increase in miles and by building up (it's one extra mile each time, every other week) that I will be able to keep hitting these faster paces.

That's the news on the running front!  I was sore today so I did my yoga DVD instead of anything hardcore.  I'm planning on going out and running tomorrow.  Gotta start the week off right. :-)