A workout? Why not!

Today I finally felt recovered enough for my watch to schedule a workout—and I was more than ready to get after it.

The session called for a 15-minute warmup, followed by 8 x 40-second intervals at a 6:05 pace with 3-minute recoveries, and a 10-minute cooldown. I’d done a similar workout (8 x 400m at a comparable pace) about a month ago, so I knew this one was well within reach.

I felt great during the warmup, and while the intervals were tough, 40 seconds is short enough that by the time it really starts to hurt, it’s basically over. I pushed the cooldown a bit to try to sneak my average pace under 8:00—and I made it. Final stats: 6.44 miles in 51:20 for an average pace of 7:58. That’s my longest workout at sub-8:00 pace in 11 months.

The hardest part was shifting gears—going from a 9:00 pace straight into a 6:00 pace is jarring. I ended up running most of the intervals a little too fast, with several in the 5:30s and 5:40s. To make things more confusing, my watch couldn’t adjust its pace reading quickly enough, so it kept alerting me that I was too slow, which pushed me to speed up even more when I was probably already on target.

All in all, I’m really satisfied with how it went. Garmin’s prescribed workouts are usually a bit easier than what I’d design for myself, but they consistently leave me feeling appropriately fatigued—and riding that post-workout dopamine high. Right now, they’re helping me avoid the trap of overtraining and burnout.

Even though the workouts are sporadic, I’m still getting the mileage in. With no races or major goals on the horizon, there’s no reason not to take it slow and focus on building a solid base.