Dreaded Wednesday

Today was the first time in a while Russ, Scott and I did the full half marathon loop. We have been building up to this mid-week medium-long run since the beginning of January. Today we did the first hour at around 4:30 min/km pace and the last 35 minutes with 5 minute pushes with 2 minutes active recovery. The pushes were run around 4 min/km pace which is slightly slower than we did them last year. Suffice to say, five pushes at that pace was more than sufficient for me. In coming weeks the pushes will get tougher as we approach Scott's marathon race pace of around 3:45 min/km and beyond (well, not for me).

Seems to me this is an excellent workout. It is long enough to stimulate endurance, yet short enough to not prolong recovery. In addition, it allows us to incorporate a variety of intensities that would be difficult in longer runs and in particular to recruit muscle fibers at tempo speeds when they have already been taxed for an hour or so.

UPDATE: Scott provided the push splits:

1- 4.14/km ave
2- 4.06/km ave
3- 3.59/km ave
4- 3.55/km ave
5- 3.52/km ave

No wonder I was feeling the heat on the last one.