Interval Training: 2 Reps by 2.2 K + 1 K @ 4:15/K Pace with 1-Minute Rest Between Reps

Jan. 30, 2019
Warm Up 4.1 K: 26:23.38
Rest: 1:00.25
<Intervals: 2 Reps by 2.2 K (Target=9:21.00) + 1 K @ 4:15/K Pace with 1-Minute Rest Between Reps>
2.2 K: 9:10.61 
Rest: 1:00.28
2.2 K: 9:15.35
Rest: 1:00.37
1 K: 4:09.38
***********
Rest: 1:00.15
Warm Down 5.5 K: 33:19.97 
Total 15 K: 1:26:19

This marks the first interval training after the Tateyama Wakashio Marathon this past Sunday. The main purpose of the training is to boost my cardio-vascular capacity for the Ohme 30 K Road Race on Feb. 16. I'm aiming to run my first sub-2:24:00 race. To achieve the goal I must run each kilometer @ 4:45. It's 10 seconds faster per K than the pace I hammered out in Tateyama. The distance is shorter. But nevertheless I must repeat that pace 30 times to achieve the goal. It's not gonna be easy. But I want to give it a shot.

I jogged slowly to the Kashiwai Water Treatment Plant where I was going to do fast runs. The smell of chlorine reached my nostrils as I approached the facility. When it happens, I get an adrenaline rush as a Pavlovian reaction. Once I reached the water tap near one of the entrances to the park, I rested for a minute to muster up all of my motivation to face the challenge ahead. One minute quickly evaporated, and I found myself rolling down the street for the first 2.2 K journey. 

I followed a piece of advice I found on Facebook by a former Hakone Ekiden runner, who advises you to go with the flow for the first half of a session, and since it's always the second half that's tough, you pay particular attention there to your form and breathing to hang in there. I stuck to the advice to finish the first 2.2 K run under the target.  

I was out of breath. I didn't remember running the distance at such a fast pace. A mere prospect of repeating it made me sick to my stomach. I thought of giving it up. But then as I reached the end of a minute rest, I felt strong enough to hit the road again. I set off for another rep. 

This time the legs immediately felt heavy due to lactic acid that built during the first fast run. A prospect of a deteriorated time was demotivating. There was only one choice: give up, or face the reality and go on. I went on, asking myself how I would do if the same happened in a race. Should the same happen in a race, the only thing I can do is slow down to recover, and then strike back when recovered. That I did. I made sure I was able to run by 6-beat breathing where you breathe in taking three steps, and breathe out while taking another three steps. It eased the discomfort in the legs as well as breathing. So when I reached the top of a downhill, I surged to make up for the possible time loss in the first half. 

To my surprise I finished under the target in the second session also. The next fast run is only 1 K. Compared with the last two runs, it was less of a challenge. But with even a greater amount of lactic acid that had built in the legs, I wasn't able to kick as hard as I wanted to, so I had no choice but take shorter strides and increase cadence. That worked. I finished 6 seconds under the target. I nailed the target in all three fast runs. I was happy. 

 

The warm down run back home was the most pleasant jog. Breathing felt super easy once freed from the burden of oxygen debt. I felt like I had become a bird. Everything felt light and easy. 

My next speed training is this coming Sunday. I'm scheduled to do 20 K tempo run. I was originally thinking of 4:50/K pace, but it turned out that it's not fast enough to run a sub-2:34:00 race. I must run at 4:45/K. It sounds tough, but I want to give it a try. I'm going to run a hilly 1-K shuttle course. Ten round trips makes 20 K. If I keep the pace, I finish in 2:22:30. That sounds morbidly challenging, especially when there is no cheerer along the road like in a race...But dealing with solitude is part of training, and I kind of enjoy it, so no problem.