Speed Work Husband Style

After the Run Through the Roses 10k and a little whining on my part about my pace and how I thought I should be stronger by now, Jason offered to help.  He has this old Runner's World magazine from 2004 that has a 10k training plan in it.  He uses this every time he wants to get serious about training (and I think he uses it for more than just the 10k distance). Well, this time he is using it on me!  He talked to me about the pace I'm running and the pace I want to run and uploaded 6 weeks of workouts onto my Garmin. 

I glanced at them in the magazine, my eyes got wide, and then I put it aside.  I put it ALL aside.  My doubt, my questions, my excuses.  I focused on one thing and that was improving my pace.  No more, "I just had a baby," or "I might not have gotten enough sleep," or "I'm just not that kind of runner."  I am going to train with no excuses.

There are two workouts each week and Tuesday was my first go.  I started my watch and decided that whatever it told me to do, I was going to do.  Even if I didn't make the pace, I was going to attempt it.  My "warm-up" was 3 miles at 8:30-8:40 pace.  I laughed to myself thinking, "Jason is a little optimistic about my warm-up pace," but I went for it anyway.  And I did it.  Would I be able to do the actual workout after that?  I wasn't sure but I was still game to go for it.  Here is the workout:

3 mile warm-up, 8:30-8:40 pace
2 x 1200, 7:30-7:45 pace with 800 rest in between
2 x 800, 7:30-7:45 pace with 400 rest in between
4 x 400, 7:30-7:45 pace with 400 rest in between
6 x 200...

I had to stop after the 400s due to a Republican Women's Lunch but I got 8.25 miles out of it and that is probably enough for the mileage I am running right now.  For the most part I was on pace for each one although I could tell I was running out of steam by the end.  When I talked to Jason about it that evening he said it might be a little long for me and to shorten the warm-up a bit. 

Even though I cut it short I was pretty excited about being able to hang in for the bit I did.  I have another workout today and I'll admit I don't want to look until I'm outside, shoes laced up, ready to run.  It was soooo tempting to take Eloise on a stroller jog this morning.  I may regret it later when I'm running in 80 degrees, but for now it is eye-on-the-goal. 

So on with the Jason-style old Runner's World magazine speed work and out with the excuses and reasons I can't.