This evening, for the first time in longer than I can remember, I ran an interval workout on the track. I have set a goal for myself of running the Firecracker 5000 in under 19 minutes, which means 6:06 pace or better, which means I better do some interval training if I am going to bring my mile pace down that far. (I ran both the 2005 and 2006 Firecracker 5000's in about 6:40 pace with no real race-specific training). With the realization that there is a new rubber track at Roosevelt High School, not far from my house, I hope to make either a track workout or stair workout my usual Thursday thing. I also have a tool I never had in all my high school and college track workout days, a heart-rate monitor.

Today, I decided to keep it simple, not having any idea what to expect. My plan was to run a 4-lap (1600m) half warm-up/half easy interval, see what my heart rate and splits looked like, stretch out really well, then run a 1200 (3 laps), 800 (2 laps) and then a balls-out 400 (1 lap).

My 1600 "interval" started out stately, with 2 2-minute laps -- somewhat expected considering I only jogged a half-lap as a warmup, then I picked it up a bit the last two laps to about 1:45 pace for a total of about 7:30. My heart rate remained at manageable levels, so I headed into the 1200 interval figuring I wanted 90-100 second lap splits. I was content with the effort of 91, 95, 91 second laps and getting my heart rate above 180 for the last lap. As the workout evolved, I'd also decided to start my next interval when my heart rate got down below 130 -- I'd originally thought 120 but I noticed it would "lag" in the 120's on my recoveries, so I went with it.

I aimed for 80 second splits on the 800 interval and was disappointed when I fell a few seconds below that, but more chagrined when I "only" peaked at 184 on the heart-rate monitor. By way of comparison, last July, at the 8km (4.97mile) Torchlight run, I maintained a 179-184 heart rate from mile two on, pushing above 187 in the last mile and peaking at 199 at the finish. An important part of interval training is pushing your heart rate to increase your anabolic threshold, which last July was 179-184, and I wasn't running below 7-minute pace from mile 2 to mile 4 in that race.

I had it in my head that I would like to run the 400 in 70 seconds, and passed the 200m mark in exactly 35, but inevitably faded down the stretch for a modest 73. My peak of 188 BPM was a shoulder-shrugger... I decided i shouldn't worry about it, this was just a "first step," and a tentative one at that.

I wrapped it all up with a torturous 2-lap cooldown, stretched out really well and headed home. Now, i a bit surprised at how tired my legs feel... I think i have a long way to go...