Alki intervals

Had a good rest day yesterday...I almost wanted to ride or run since it was sunny yet again (I actually wore my favorite chaco sandals for a while in the afternoon!), but the body voted to stay with the regular rest, groceries, and clean house sunday routine. Probably good as today was the Monday double.

Started the day with a good swim workout...I had my own lane for more than half the session and it was a good no-nonsense workout (yea, no stroke/drill crap!), so I got in 3,400 yards, just a little more than usual.

I strategically sculpted my day's schedule to include an afternoon meeting in West Seattle, so I could "carpe diem" a sunny run on Alki. It was a tough interval run and nice to have sunshine and pretty scenery (although I'm not sure it matters that much when you're thinking you might trip on your tongue). On paper, the workout wasn't that bad, but it felt hard...5 x 2 minutes hard/2 minutes recovery in the middle of a 4-5 miler. I pushed it pretty hard (160s on all intervals), jogged the recovery pieces (no walking), and pushed the last part after the intervals to tempo-ish pace because I wanted to be as close to an 8 minute average mile pace for the whole workout as I could (I don't know why, I just did). I did end up with an 8:10 overall average pace...not bad. It was hard, but I do think I might be getting a tiny bit faster... I'm very happy about that, especially since I've only been running 2x per week and working on the hip. Great to be by the water and running in shorts today! I felt great afterwards.

Came home, did some core stuff, and am making dinner for Tatyana as we have a viewing of Ann's "Chi Running" DVD scheduled this evening.

Interval Run:

10 min warm up: 1.17 mile

2:00 Hard: .31 mile: Avg HR = 155
2:00 Recovery: .20 mile
2:00 Hard: .29 mile: avg HR = 155
2:00 Recovery: .21
2:00 Hard: .30: Avg HR = 158
2:00 Recovery: .21
2:00 Hard: .31: Avg HR = 158
2:00 Recovery: .21
2:00 Hard: .29: Avg HR = 158

12:48: 1.5 mile Avg HR = 152

Total:
5 miles
40:48
Avg HR = 149
Max HR = 167