Ladder Intervals - 2 miles easy, 1 min., 2 min., 3 min., 2 min., 1 min., 2 min., 3 min. @ 3K-10K pace w/= duration active recoveries, 2 miles easy. Average pace: 9:07.
Weather: 61°F, 67% humidity, winds calm, cloudy.
I did this interval portion of this workout on the track. I live very close to both a middle school and a high school and each has a track. The middle school track is less than a half mile away, while the high school track is less than a mile away. The middle school track is more accessible because it's not fenced, though I think the gate to the high school track is always open.
I took a 2-mile long very out-of-the-way route to the middle school track. My average pace for these two miles was 10:02. The track is paved with asphalt, not that fancy track surface stuff. There was no one else on the track for a little more than half my run, so I ran in the middle lane and switched directions half-way through the workout. A little while after I switched directions a teenage girl and a younger boy, probably her little brother, showed up and started walking the track. They didn't get in my way at all. My pace on the intervals was 7:45, 7:43, 7:39, 7:24, 7:19, 7:24, 7:13. I think it was easier keeping a relatively consistent pace on the track that it would have been on the roads. I ran the out-of-the-way 2-mile route back home at 9:29 pace.
After I got back home, I was walking down my street a little ways for a cool down and I saw one of my neighbors, who is a friend of mine, sitting on her porch with her little boy. I stopped and visited with her for a little while. That was nice.
At the race I ran last Saturday they gave passes to an advance screening of a movie called 500 Days of Summer to the first 100 finishers, and so I got one (I was the 71st finisher). The movie is tonight. I can take one guest and I'm not sure whether my husband or son is going to go with me. It will probably be my son because Zooey Deschanel stars in the movie and my son loves Zooey Deschanel. | 