A Joyous Day

I blog this early morning at 3:15 am because I can't sleep, which is rare for me. The incredibly and unusually loud snoring of our housemate could be the problem---I am now downstairs in the dining room and I can still hear the racket from the upstairs opposite end of the house.

In any case, I declare this day a joyous day because yesterday was the last of the interval workouts before the marathon. According to the plan, from now on it is longer and slower tempo runs for workouts, and of course the dreaded marathon pace long runs. But these I can handle. My quick turnover and foot speed on interval workouts leave something to be desired. Long tempos will be hard, but won't require the fast rate of turnover that I lack.

So yesterday for the final interval workout, I chose to do 5 x 1200m with 4 minutes rest between. I was aiming for 4:18 each, which equates to a VDOT of 56. The first was 4:23, then the final 4 came in at 4:13-14, for a surprisingly better VDOT of 57-58. 3 of the intervals I ran on the Ashland Oredocker track, and two were completed on a 0.75 mile loop around the schoolyards on a paved bike trail.

In the end I was pleased with the effort: tired, but not exhausted. The 4 hot and humid days in the high 70s earlier in the week and last weekend had me concerned that I was breaking down. Turns out it's just that I'm not used to the hots and humids yet.

Wow. That man can snore.