Good morning! Welcome back at my running block towards the Spijkenisse Spark Marathon this November. Last Thursday I experienced the first workout that was too heavy in a long term. While I decided to take 2 full days of recovery (complete rest rather than low intensity runs), I also noticed some self doubts. The training is supposed to be hard and I know that it is part of growth but sometimes knowing and feeling are different things. I decided to do a hard training today that if succesfull should boost my feeling a bit :)
I picked strong 1600 meter intervals as a workout. The pace should be well above the targetted marathon pace so you boost your vo2max and train on power - which hopefully translates into less power used to sustain marathon pace.
The workout recommended 4 max 5 reps. I picked 4 reps due to the fear of failing, mentally I could use the win more than risking overreaching on an extra set.
Starting the day at 06:15 again! Did do a quick oatmeal breakfast and a coffee. When I went outside it was still dark (and cold) but that also provided great views!
I started with an easy kilometer warmup, before starting my first interval. The goal pace was 4:00 - 4:05 / min per kilometer.
I noticed that I start strong, maybe a little too strong which made the last 400m of each set a bit harder. But I managed 4 strong sets!
After which I did an easy cooldown of a few kilometers, at zone 1.
Succes! We are back baby!
Happy running!