Interval Unexpected

My neighbor and I have been talking about improving our running pace for a long time now.   We seem to have no problem adding distance to our runs, but improving our times just a little has seemed challenging.   I think the challenge part is mostly on my side as I think my neighbor has a tendency to naturally run faster than I do, but regardless of the reason, we’re what’s considered slow runners in the world of running.

The other night I wasn’t sleeping well and during one of my three point roll over maneuvers I came up with an idea.  I would create an interval training plan on one of the apps I had on my phone and start it when I ran out the door in the morning.    I decided to do something so easy, so simple, so short and quick we couldn’t possibly fail or even complain about it.     I created a looping interval of five minutes of running followed by twenty seconds of sprinting.   That’s it.   That’s all.

A few hours later I ran out the door with the interval program activated.   As per usual I ran into my neighbor about half-way to her house, we did our standard turn-around and fell right into our “running in the dark in the neighborhood in the morning" routine.    About three-and-a-half minutes later, a lady’s voice boomed out of my left hip pocket: “twenty seconds high-intensity.”  My neighbor said, “what?”  I replied, “sprint!” and she started sprinting with me without another word.

When the twenty seconds were over I explained what my idea had been and she was all for it.    Some very interesting things happened in the next hour-and-a-half of running as a result:

First, we got an innate sense of when five minutes was up.   That internal clock got kicked up to high alert and we both just knew when it was about time to sprint.

Second, the hills were out to get us.   This was likely our perception of the situation and not actual reality, but it seemed as soon as we hit a hill or got done with a comfortable jaunt down a slope that voice would bellow out from my hip pocket: “twenty seconds high-intensity” and we’d be sprinting up a hill yet again.

Third, we killed the run.   I mean killed it.   Those twenty seconds must have increased our overall pace as well because there is no way running somewhat faster for twenty seconds every five-and-a-third minutes would shave off a full minute on our pace.    That means we were running each mile one minute faster than we normally ran a mile.  We couldn’t believe it.   We were pretty darned psyched about the results.

We’re going to do the interval plan again with some increased goals.   I have no aspirations of being a speed runner, but I would like to increase my pace some and this may well be a good way to do so.

The Big Boy Update:  My son asked for something for breakfast and after I made it for hime he decided he didn’t want to eat it.   I suppose I was in one of those moods, but I made a decision and told him he would have to eat it before he got any other food at home.  He went to school and ate all of his lunch but when we got home and went to the pool, he didn’t have any snack because he didn’t eat his breakfast (which I conveniently brought for him.)  He didn’t want to eat it when we got home either, electing to go out to the back yard and play with our neighbors.   He finally decided to eat his breakfast when he saw his sister at the dinner table eating something he loved (I wonder who decided to serve mandarin oranges to tempt him?)  After that, he ate all of his dinner and any of his sister’s dinner she would let him have, he was so hungry.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter realized we were packing up to go home from the pool this afternoon.   I turned around after a few minutes and couldn’t find her.   She wasn’t floating in the pool and she hadn’t said she needed to go to the bathroom.   I yelled up to the parent who had just left, asking if she’d exited the gate and gone to the parking lot (which we can’t see from the pool.)   He said, “oh, I see her, she’s four houses up the street walking home.”   I grabbed my bag and tried to catch her, but she’s a fast walker.    She knows how to be safe, look for cars and use the sidewalks and our neighborhood is low traffic, so I wasn’t overly concerned.   When I got home I found her coming from around the back of the house.   She told me she’d tried, but all the doors were locked.   I told her I was so glad she had wanted to walk home but next time could we talk it over first?