Thursday, Dec. 23rd, 5x800 intervals on trails

I started with a .5 mile barefoot warm-up on the treadmill, then laced up the Evo II's, warmed up for 30 minutes then moved into 5x800 intervals on dirt trails. My pace times for the 800 splits were 6:17, 6:16, 6:02, 6:02, and 6:05. The total workout was 6.93 miles in 53:27.

I'm happy with these times especially considering the dirt trail terrain. The great thing about doing interval and speed work on dirt trails is that you have to work harder on dirt as you have less grip and have to work harder to get your foot off the ground. Additionally, you don't have the safety of the perfect round soft track as now you have to deal with twists, turns and uneven terrain.

When I run good times on dirt, I know I'm ready for hard surfaces. I'd run about :15 seconds per mile faster on roads. These paces were a bit faster than my 5x800 session last Friday so I'm pleased.

I'm looking forward to a nice easy run tomorrow.

HHH