Speed freak!

I think I just got addicted to speed.

My workout for today was down as a hard speed/interval session on a treadmill. I was dreading it, but I was still feeling good after yesterday's 80 minutes of hills, and as the day went on I started to get excited.

I skipped out of the office ten minutes early to ensure my spot on the dreaded machine. The plan was to walk for two minutes, then run for a minute at a very slow pace, slowly upping the pace by a minute each kilometre until I was maxing out. Then it was back to the low running speed, rinse and repeat (three times through all up). Duck had me starting on 8kmph, which felt like I was walking. 9km didn't feel much faster. 10km was feeling ok. 11km was starting to feel a little bit more like it. 12km felt faster than usual. 13km felt fast, 14km felt very fast. However it could have been worse. My heartrate got up, but I felt strong and never like I was going to fall on my face.

The second time through was definitely easier. The third time through I commanded myself out loud to 'go' as I hit the 14km switch. My heartrate maxed out at just over 170 the first time through, 176 the second and 180 the third. So obviously I was working pretty hard. However I still think I could have gone faster. I was grinning madly and euphoric at the end and my hair was going in all directions. I was a sweaty mess.

I walked for two minutes and my heartrate came back down reassuringly quickly. 21 minutes of running, and I felt like I hadn't yet done enough. I flirted with doing leg weights or hanging around for 6.30 Balance, but in the end I called Hamish and jumped on a bus home.

So I love interval training. I need speed. I had forgotten how effective this kind of training can be. So much of my training lately has been about long and slow. Short and hard appealed to my Mad Dog tendencies tonight.

Congratulations to Kate for her personal best marathon in Auckland, (read her grumpy multi-entry marathon report and grin) and to my colleague Kate for her half. It was wonderful to see a female triathlete win the women's marathon event, especially one who does not look like a traditional marathon runner. Girl got muscle!