As a distance runner, I love intervals and short hill repeats. Back when I was in heavy training for marathons, I so looked forward to speed work days.

Not only did they help make me stronger and faster, they relieved the monotony of long slow runs all the time.

I mean, I love long runs or I wouldn’t have been a marathoner, but we all need variety and we all need to challenge ourselves.

Looking forward to speed work day was often like looking forward to a nice dessert after a plain dinner. That’s actually kind of how I thought about it. “Yay! I get to do speed work today!”