That’s right—this morning I was out on the track before the sun was up. I had my alarm set for 5:45am, 5:47am, and 5:50am and luckily was able to get up without hitting snooze. I quickly poured myself a mug of coffee—it was a little too early for me to actually enjoy it. I chugged it and slowly (really slowly) headed to the field…
Let me give you the run-down on the Interval Test: The test is designed to be game-like and involves sprinting, rest, and running varying lengths around the track for a 21-minute period. The goal is to get 8 6/8 laps. The timing goes as follows:
Now, don’t get me wrong—I absolutely love running… This blog would not exist if I didn’t. But the thing about the Interval Test is that it’s ALL mental. Of course I can run a little under three miles…especially when I get a break in-between sprints. So what’s the big deal?
The big deal is that if I tell myself I can’t do it… I fail. Mental toughness is key. I planned it all out in my head. For the first 4 minutes of sprints I wanted to get a total of 4.5 laps. From that point on, I decided that if I just sprinted my ass off until I heard a whistle, I would make it. Sounds easy.
IT’S NOT. Lap 1 I thought to myself “Oh my goodness, I made it and I’m doing it!” The second lap I kept telling myself “OK, OK. Stick with it.” Lap number 3… “Holy smokes… I thought I was in better shape than this.” Lap number 4 “I AM GOING TO THROW UP.” From this point on the only thing going through my head was “AHH. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT LAP I AM ON.”
But, mission complete! I did it and got in an extra 1 1/2 laps! So, as much as I was dreading this morning… I learned two lessons:
1. Positive talk only!
2.“No pain, no gain.”
Running challenges us not only mentally by physically and, in order to be successful, we must mentally believe that we are capable of achieving more and moving forward. Plus, if we are not fighting for more, we won’t get anywhere.
Happy Wednesday!
Hello, Sunshine. 
God bless you for getting up that early and running! I was on my high school cross-country team and we had a workout my coach called “30-60-90”. We would jog for 30 seconds, sprint for 30 seconds, jog for 60 seconds, sprint for 60, and so on and so forth. Like you said, it was all mental. Running three miles was easy for me then, but those workouts were really what did everybody in. I don’t remember how long we did the workout for, but I can’t imagine doing an interval test for 20 minutes today. Great post!
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I really liked this blog. I never liked getting up early for workouts but as an athlete it was just something you had to do. I remember in high school when we would have two a days for soccer and the first one was at 7:15am and we didn’t even touch a soccer ball. I completely agree with your tips to get through this and the trick really is mental toughness. Though my self encouragement might have a few more expletives you just always have to keep yourself going. I really enjoyed this post and glad you got through your interval runs!
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I know how you feel with the waking up really early and it is absolutely the worst thing ever, especially to go run something like a interval test. Also, I completely agree that running is all mental. It happens every year during training camp for football. For the first practice we always have a conditioning test and the whole time leading up to it, I find certain individuals doubting themselves. When you tell yourself you can do something, it makes it that much easier.
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