Start Time: 9/18/08, 7:15am
Location: Arlington Boulevard Trail
Distance: ~3.25 miles & 2 miles
Average Pace: ~8:37min/mile & 10:00min/mile
Total Miles For September: 20 miles

Another “28 minutes of hell” workout (4 repeats of fast 2, slow 2, faster 1, slow 1, still faster 30 sec, slow 30 sec), which I hadn’t done in a while. I’m not entirely convinced that I really got the fast/faster/faster still paces down pat, but I was definitely moving, and I also clocked more distance in those 28 minutes than with the others, so that’s something. I am a little glad I hadn’t gone overboard and attempted the “48 minutes of hell” workout instead, though. Maybe next week. (3/3/2/2/1/1)

Start Time: 8/21/08, 6:30am
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center Outside Track
Distance: 2 miles & ~3 miles
Total Miles For August: 58 miles

Ok, this is a little mortifying. I went to the outside track this morning and after my warm-up mile, ran the “28 minutes of hell” workout… and I lost track of how many laps I ran. I am pretty sure it was 6 laps (3 miles), but… um… you never know, right? It might have only been 5 laps. But I’m counting it as 6 laps. Hee hee hee.

Start Time: 7/15/08, 6:45am
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center Half Mile Loop
Distance: 2 miles & ~2.85 miles
Average Pace: 9:46min/mile & ~9:49min/mile
Total Miles For July: 41 miles

It had been a while since I’d run “28 minutes of hell” so I gave it another stab this morning. It was actually kind of nice out at first (only 70 degrees) but just like yesterday morning’s trip to the gym (rowing and elliptical), I was yawning before I even began. I ran Sunday’s half-mile loop for the course, since it meant I didn’t have to dodge traffic at all. That’s a good thing. Part of me wished I’d pushed it up to the “48 minutes of hell” workout (where it’s 3min, 2min, 1min for the splits) but who am I kidding, I wasn’t up for that just yet. Maybe next week.

All-in-all, not bad. I’d like to push a little harder next time; I should’ve (even with 14 of those 28 minutes being walking) gotten a full 3 miles in. Ah well. As an added bonus, a lot of runners there this morning. It was nice to not be running where the only company is traffic whizzing by and people walking to work (hello, Arlington Boulevard Trail).

warm-up & cool-down: 10:13 & 9:19

Start Time: 4/24/08, 7:30am
Location: Arlington Boulevard Trail
Distance: 5 miles
Total Miles For April: 14.5 miles

Oof! This was a return to Fred’s fabled “28 minutes of hell” workout. I didn’t feel like marking off specific distances to run things like halves or quarters, so instead I picked this workout. After a mile warm-up, it’s as follows:

Run 2 minutes, HARD
Recover 2 minutes (slow jog or fast walk)
Run 1 minute, HARD
Recover 1 minute
Run 30 seconds, HARD
Recover 30 seconds
repeat three more times

The nice thing was even with the slower moving for recovery, I polished off 3 miles in those 28 minutes. Considering only half of it was actually running, a 9:20min average speed means I was definitely trucking. Even the cool-down mile was around that speed.