3x1600

I broke in my new pair of Asics GT-2130s a few days ago. It felt a little stiff on a 8 miler on Tuesday, a little better yesterday during an early morning 5 miler, but today I took them for a nice spin around the track and I think they're just starting to break in.

Today's the last hard quality workout, 3x1600. As usual, I ran about 4 kilometres up to the track (see route here)


As an aside, the map you see was generated by my Garmin Connect account and my brand new Garmin Forerunner 405! My sweetie got it for me for my birthday a little while ago and I was able to start using it in the past week. Still playing with it, and having some problems synching it with my Garmin Training Centre, but it's a lovely watch.

A cool day, probably around 16C, and there was a light wind, perfect for doing track work. I targetted 6:14s based on the latest 5K race time.

Here are the three stats

1. 6:09 (177 bpm average heart rate)
2. 6:09 (182 bpm)
3. 6:10 (183 bpm)

See more info on the run from my Garmin page

I'm loving these splits. Here are the last two 3x1600s I've done in prep for the past two marathons

April 2008
1. 6:15 182 max heart rate (173 average)
2. 6:15 186 max heart rate (178 average)
3. 6:14 189 max heart rate (181 average)

October 2007
1. 6:21 184 max heart rate (176 average)
2. 6:27 188 max heart rate (182 average)
3. 6:28 187 max heart rate (182 average)

Now how is it that I've managed to take off 11 to 18 (eighteen!) seconds of my times from a year ago. That's insane. I don't know. I do know that my legs felt very fresh today. I know that my legs were operating at a high level, that I wasn't gasping for air. I know my third lap wasn't pushing it. I know that the pace I chose was not sprinting, just fast running.

I guess the numbers say it clear: I am a much faster runner than a year ago. The work I did in the months following last year's fall marathon (the winter upkeep, the early spring training for the spring marathon) kept me sharp and had me gaining fitness throughout the past 12 months.

Tomorrow morning, it's 5 mile recovery, followed by 7 miles on Saturday and 13 miles on Sunday.