Dark With Sunny Intervals

Well, Wednesday came and that meant it was time to do intervals for the LA Roadrunners program. I was curious how I would do after last weekend as well as still fighting a cold and post-retreat energy lag.

I set out for Clover Park on a night run as I prefer to do the intervals on a fixed course. It actually started getting windy as I walked south, which got me thinking of the old sprinting days. The walk also doubled as my warm-up.

After drinking some water, I set out on Round 1 ... fast. Very fast, as in faster than 5K pace and slowed after checking the trusty Garmin 305 electronic conscience. I was doing pretty well indeed, some soreness in the knee, but speed was up and I felt good.

I took the now reduced slower pace rest (2:30 vs 3:00 last week as the running was up to 7:00 from 6:30) and set out again ... fast again! It felt nice to be honest; but, I slowed and kept the pace going and met targets. Yeah.

Round 3 was more of the same. My knee was not 100%; but, ti was better than last week and so were my times. This time I found a cadence to pace myself. It sounds crazy; but, "Vamos a la playa" ("We go to the beach") since that is where the Los Angeles Marathon will more or less end) somehow entered my mind and clicked and seemed to work well. It makes no sense; but, it worked ... and at this point, I will take it. My form also seemed better and I even got the thumb clicking going ... yeah!

Round 4 ... again the same! Yeah!

I finished up, stretched, watered, and headed for home enjoying the breeze and remembering the Servite days. I was not running on the balls of my feet like back then; but, it felt fast at least.

In terms of British weather, it was dark; but, I felt good. This was my first positive run in a while and it indeed was "sunny intervals." The results were on target, my paces were pretty consistent, and the knee survived. Not bad.

Round 1 9:06 pace 7:04 of running time 0.78 miles
Round 2 9:12 pace 7:06 of running time 0.77 miles
Round 3 9:12 pace 7:08 of running time 0.78 miles
Round 4 9:10 pace 7:06 of running time 0.77 miles