Workouts: Speed and Marathon Pace

I love to do certain workouts over and over again as a gage to fitness.  One session I have not been able to very often is short speed work, 200's or 400's or even strides.  My feet and knees would rebel.  Every once in awhile I would try a speed session, especially the last couple years as my injuries have gotten better.  Same result, so I would stop.  This was smart.

This last week I was able to a speed session without pain and without pain in the days after.  Then today I did a marathon type workout , mile repeats with 3-4min rest

First, the speed session.  Okay the following workout is all reality as to speed.  For me, its all about FEELING smooth fast and relaxed.  (for the record I used to be able to do 8x200meteres in 33-34sec with 200m walk and as recent as 2003 did 8x.1Mile in 37 sec).  So, on Wednesday morning I warmed up 2 miles then ran 5 x 1/10 mile on bike path in 49-45 sec, about 8-7:30 pace.  Result was good smooth relaxed running and NO pain.  Nice.  I hope to do a simple session like this once a week, either Wednesday or Sat/Sun, with the other days being a short hill session.

Now, the marathon work out today with Gregg.  With Issac's humidity still in the air (dew pt high 70's) I knew the workout would be tough.  Instead of the planned 10 mile cont run at 11:30+, Gregg agreed to my suggested 10 x 1mile at about 11:00pace and faster (according to how we feel). we would rest 3-4mins walking around.  Since the bike path is 3.3 miles out, it makes for nice way to do 6 mile repeats with .1mile between.  The path has easier miles and harder miles, a gradual up and down path, not bad for rolling terrain in central illinois.  It offers perfect footing and accurate course marking every .1mile.

Here's the stats on the workout:  10 x 1 mile in 11:00 or a little faster based on feel ( I wear a HRM but do not use it to guide my work out today, only to record what I did....I like to run a certain pace/effort and see how it relates to my HR)

warmup walk: .4 mile in 7:42 @77 hr average
mile 1 - (0 to 1) 10.24 @ 135avg/143max....3 min rest/walk .1M ...hr down to 99- easy effort, down/flat
mile 2 - (1.1 to 2.1) 10.07@142/148...3.08 min rest/walk .1M...hr down to 110 - easy, down/flat, hard to go slower
mile 3 - (2.2 to 3.2) 10.37 @ 148/153.....4 min rest/walk/bathroom break....hr down to 126, flat/uphill, good
mile 4 - (3.3 to 2.3) 10.16@ 152/159....3.14 min res/walk...hr down to 121....more downhill/flat
mile 5 - (2.2 to 1.2) 10.26 @ 154/159 ...3.06 min rest/walk ....hr down to 120...flat/up...getting hot/Humid
mile 6 - (1.1 to .1) 10.50 @ 156/162...3.31 min rest/walk (actaul more like 5mins rest, I talked to a friend and stopped watch)....hr down 123.  This one was mostly uphill and was tough, sun came out.  I noticed I was getting tired in the quads, but not sore.
mile 7 - (0 to 1) 10.27 @ 153/158....3.09 min rest/walk...hr down to 123....surprised this fast, next one must go slower.
mile 8 - ( 1.1 to 2.1) 10.47 @ 153/159....3.10 min rest/walk...hr down to 121....easier but legs getting tired
Now we turned around so we are heading back.  I must admit these next 2 miles would have been easy to walk, not run, so having Gregg there really pushed me along mentally.
mile 9 - (2.1 to 1.1) 10.48 @156/162 ....3.30 rest/walk....hr down to 126...I laid down waiting for gregg(bathroom break)
mile 10 - (1.1 to .1) 10.50 @160/170....Done!!! walked around for 7.42 ....hr down to  133

overall average:  10 x 1 mile in 10:33 @ 151hr.....MAX of 170 on last mile repeat.

Felt pretty drained the last 4 miles but this was a good marathon workout.  I have no idea what this means for race pace for shorter races or how this translates to a marathon.  The weather was extreme humidity and high dew point.  I do know the high dew point effected my overall feeling but not sure my times or HR.  A running times article says this on dew point: 
70-74 dew pt= very humid/uncomfortable - expect pace to suffer greatly (maybe the last miles times suffered)
75+ = extreme oppressive - skip workout or alter goal (which I actually did)

These 2 workouts make me feel like a real runner, no matter the pace is so much slower than I used to run.  The effort and the sweat and endrophins are still ALL there.  Maybe I call this a "Special Block" based on the recent Running Times on Kenyan marathon training by coach Renato Canova.

On, my the way, Gregg ran great and his fastest mile was his last at 10.02.  He could have run all of them a lot faster.  He is in good shape.

I have no hard workouts planned for 3 +weeks, just mountain hiking and some solid mountain running as I feel.