Workout: 5x400m Speed Workout

Main Workout Distance: 1.25 miles (5x400m intervals) + 1 mile walk/recovery jog (~400 m walk/recovery jog between each interval) = 2.25 miles total
Main Workout Avg. Pace: 6:40/mile (running portions)
Warmup/Cooldown Distance: 2.9 miles (2 mile warmup before intervals and 0.9 mile cool down after intervals)
Avg. WU/CD Pace: 9:55/mile
Type: Speed Workout
Weather: Cool (mid 60s to low 70s), Clear, No Humidity
Summary: 400m intervals ranged from 1:35 to 1:50 per interval, or between about 6:22/mile to about 7:24/mile, with walk/jog recovery for 400m+ between each; Warmup 2 mi run at slow pace (9:34/mile); Cool Down 0.9 mile jog at even slower pace (10:45/mile pace)

My first interval speed workout. These really weren't that bad, in fact I had to keep myself in check to keep from running them too fast. All the advice I've seen on running intervals like these as a speed workout for long distance training recommend being around your 2-5K pace, which for me is supposedly around 7:22/mile to 7:43/mile (or about 1:42 to 1:55 per 400m interval), but as you can see, only my slowest interval was in this range. I guess it's the old high school sprinter in me coming out (I ran the 400m as my main race in high school and had a personal best of about 50.5 seconds... nothing stellar, but still not slow. I also ran the 200m pretty fast, I don't remember exactly but I know it was around 21 seconds).

I think that it's fine that I was a little fast, I'm sure I'll get better at pacing myself: in fact, I think that will be a big benefit of these speed workouts is that it will help me get better and "feeling" what my pace is.

I think I might try my next set of speed intervals (next Tuesday) on a hill. Hill intervals are supposed to help build leg strength as well as speed, and early on in a training schedule it's a good idea to increase strength, which leads to an increased max. pace (according to Run Faster).

Next Planned Workout: 3-3.5 mile endurance run tomorrow evening (Wed. 7/29). What type will depend on how my legs feel after tonight's speed workout. If I'm hurting, then it will be a recovery run. If I feel just OK or good, I will do a normal easy run. And if I feel really good during the easy run, I'll turn it into a progression run and increase the pace on the last 1-1.5 miles.