OBJECTIVE
1 mi. WU
4x800m @ 6:38 (3:19) w/400m easy recoveries
1 mi. CD
Garmin greeted me with a "Battery Low" warning before I even started. I didn't have time to wait for a charge so I grabbed my Ironman and wondered what workout I would do. 800 meter intervals surely wouldn't work well without the Garmin to apprise me of distance and pace. These thoughts were leading to a place where this workout was at risk of being completed. I had already ducked out on it yesterday for the simple reason that I knew it was going to be hard. This occurred to me as I was sorting through the workout possibilities while making my way over to the trail. I decided to simply do it ... it being the scheduled workout.
800 meters at 6:38 per mile pace would take about 3:19 to complete. I would just ran for 3:19 and stop at the closest obvious stopping place. I'd try to "feel my way" to 6:38 pace without anything to guide me other than feel.
After warming up the first interval began at the soccer fields. I knew this would take me through a major intersection but that would be shorter than 800 meters. I'd keep going ... to the next major intersection. It took me 3:16. I thought the distance may have been I little short. I ran really easy for around 2:30 then took off after I got through another major intersection. I went for 3:27. I'm not sure the distance. It felt long. I went out easy to where I thought the turnaround point of my 5-mile runs is (or was it 5.5 mile?). I turned and came back. Rather than confuse things by running different stretches for the intervals over the return, I decided to cover the exact same stretch in reverse. The goal would be to beat my times from the outbound legs. 3:18 for the third interval over the same stretch as the 3:27. Mission accomplished but probably had too long of a rest leg. After a third rest leg (less than 3 minutes), legged out 3:23 over the fourth and final interval. That didn't beat the opening 3:16 over the same distance but it was in the neighborhood and I was pretty drained. Eased it back home over the remaining mile.
So what was accomplished, I got the workout in and it was productive. But that's not the whole story. Using an online map system, I plotted the distances of each leg. I was completely satisfied when the results came back as:
.4896 mi. (788 meters)
.5036 mi. (810 meters)
.5122 mi. (824 meters)
.5179 mi. (833 meters)
(Yes, intervals 1 and 4 should be the same and so should 2 and 3. But I plotted them both directions and acknowledge the precision in the plotting is not what the four decimal places suggests.)
So I did run 4 800-meter intervals! And I was pretty much right on my target pace. All without a Garmin to keep me on point. Happy runner!
Sent from my iPad
