It’s been a while since I’ve done one of my hour-long, lung busting interval workouts. After a great long run last weekend, I figured it only made since to try and do a workout that will help increase my speed in longer races.
The workout starts out easy enough: 15 minutes at a light jog. Then it’s all business. After a few 100 yard sprints at max, there are five three minute intervals where you are really pushing your heart rate.
I cheated a little bit. I only had time for 4 death intervals. But I did them right, so I don’t feel too guilty.
The tricky part was finding a course near the house where I could run for long enough stretches without having to play Frogger with cars. You remember Frogger? That fantastic video game where you, as the frog, leaped from pad, to log, to turtle, through traffic, all to get back home safely without going “gone with the Schwinn” (Muppets reference, people!) .
I found a great street, about a 1/2 mile long, where I could really tear it up — freshly paved, light traffic; it was perfect. After interval numbero three, I rounded the corner and headed for home, when I was nearly knocked off my feet by the omnious stench of fresh doggie doo.
Judging by the smell (and heat), I estimated that it was indeed Clifford himself who left the gift roadside. I never saw any woman walking a big, red dog, but I was in the zone. I may have ran right under him, who knows?
I do know that choosing to not pick up after Fido, especially El Fido Grande, is beyond “not cool” it’s downright dangerous. I nearly chucked cookies.
But I didn’t.
In all, this run was about 5.5 miles, burning nearly 1,000 calories, and I maxed out at 186 heartbeats a minute. In one of the 3 minute intervals, I can run a little more than a half mile. Not too shabby.
I’ll be doing lots more of these types of workouts this fall during Ironman training. At this point, I’m feeling pretty good about my half-Ironman later this month.
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