WTW: The Mile Repeats

Seems like forever since I did my last track workout but it was only 3 weeks ago. I took a week off earlier in the month and then last week...well I just overslept. I really need to be more discipline. I keep getting the feeling like I am running out of time to train for CIM which is still many months away. I actually don't officially start training until the end of this month.

So today I was back at it! I decided to do 3 sets of 1600s with a 5-minute rest in between. I warmed up and cooled down for 1 mile each. I've never done mile repeats before. Not on purpose anyways. I wasn't sure how I would feel compared to doing 800s. When I looked at my times afterwards I was surprised to find how consistently I ran them since all 3 sets felt different. For example, I felt like I was running the last set super slow as compared to the other 2 sets but it turned out to be my fastest mile. I'm going to repeat this workout for the next two track sessions to get some consistent data to play around with. Seeing these times is encouraging as it shows that I am on track with my goals for the Long Beach Half as well as CIM, well according to the McMillan chart anyways.

Speaking of training for CIM, I recently reconnected with one of my running buddies (Darren) who now blogs over at Buddha Belly Runner. We had trained together for his first marathon (the OC Marathon back in 2009). He and his current running buddy are also signed up to run CIM and they will be training together using the infamous Hanson Brooks Plan where you basically train at lower mileages with higher effort. He will be documenting his experience using this plan to break 4-hours at CIM. If you have ever been curious about this plan, go and follow along as Darren goes from average runner to Hanson Plan graduate.

I'm playing around with the idea of following the HB plan as well but the training schedule is completely different than my current workout/life schedule so I will need to change up a lot of things to make this plan work for me and frankly I am scared to death to go into a race with my longest run peaking at 16 miles (per the HB Plan). I might do a variation of the HB plan with some 20s thrown in for good measure. I have another week to think about it and think about it I will.