This Saturday, I joined some co-workers to take part in the Fifth Avenue Mile event. It’s exactly what it sounds like—Fifth Avenue is shut down from the Upper East Side to Midtown for runners to make their way from about 80th to 60th Street. Considering I’m not a consistent jogger these days (I’m more often found in a spinning studio or my apartment trying a new workout DVD) I didn’t have huge expectations. I was thinking a sub-8-minute mile would be decent, so I was pretty pumped when I crushed that goal by nearly one minute!

I credit interval routines, like this one below, for keeping my pace in check. Since it involves short, quick bursts of running separated by longer bits of walking, this routine is doable yet effective. Tweak according to your current fitness level (perhaps you can make the walking intervals 3.2-3.5 MPH and decrease the jogs by 1.0-1.5 MPH each). Once you reach that last run, rev up your speed, while staying under control, and give it all you’ve got! It’s the end of the workout, so you might as well, right? :)

Do you think more about your quickness, endurance or both while training?