Repeats

One of the greatest and hardest parts of training is doing repeats. You know they are good for you (like green vegetables) but that doesn't mean you want to do them (like green vegetables).

We tried something different last night and it seemed to really benefit our workout. Rather than doing 12 hard runs of a 1/4 mile each with a 2 minute break; we did 3 repeats of 1/4 and then 3 of 1/2 miles followed by 3 of 1/4 mile again for a total of 3 miles plus 1/2 mile warm-up and cool down for an evening total of 4 miles.

While we both felt a little sluggish in the 1/2 mile runs (you have to maintain that high speed for twice as long) it really paid dividends on the final quarter miles. Denise's last quarter was her fastest ever at 1:43 which is a 6:52 per mile pace and my last quarter was at 1:24 (also my fastest) which is a 5:36 per mile pace. If you haven't ever done repeats and want to improve your overall speed this is a great workout. Let me know and I will help design a program for you.

This week I added my grandmother, Ruth Blakeley, to my training shirt. She died on March 29, 1991 from lung cancer. If there is someone you would like me to add that fought or is fighting cancer please let me know. Total training miles to date: 61.5. Have a great weekend!