Today was my intervals and hills day. 4.1 miles overall, 3.2 running. Did eight 44o laps and was going to do at least four hill repeats but on my first climb my family met me at the top of the hill. They were there trying to track down the number of a friend who used to live there. So I walked the third of the mile home with them and called it a day. It was perfect fall weather. My best lap was the sixth, at 7:07 pace. Felt great to open it up a bit (while mindful of course that this is still a jogging pace for elite runners), and I like the textural variation the sandy gravel track affords. It tears up my feet a bit, but in a good kinda way. The goal is to slowly build up to around 6 miles overall on my intervals and hills day, while steadily increasing max pace, or maintaining max pace over more laps. The idea is that one recruits a greater amount of muscle fiber when one runs faster, and then once these fibers become used to being activated, they are recruited on longer runs as well, increasing overall endurance and pace and lessening fatigue. So goes the theory anyway. Mostly I just like to go faster once a week.
