800m Repeats in Florida

Goal:
9x800m with 400m jog rest at 240

Actual:
3.1 mile warmup
9x800m with 400m jog rest at 2:40-2:45 in Florida
2.2 miles cooldown for 11.8 miles total

While I thoroughly enjoy and appreciate every moment that I get to spend with Garrett when I visit him, it is always difficult to find the motivation to do work outs when I'm in Florida.  I am always torn between spending every possible moment with Garrett and wanting to keep my normal running routine.  Of course, it is best to compromise and create a marriage between the two options.  After all, during travel it is quite impossible to keep the regular routine and, instead, I make some minor adjustments to account for the change in schedule, diet, and running routes.

This morning was no different in that I yearned to just stay in bed and to skip my work out all together.  However, my end goal was in mind so I pulled my mind together and stepped out of bed at 6AM, feeling motivated after revisiting my long term goals for 2011.  Meagan Nedlo and I talked about how we want to enjoy every single moment leading up to the Trials and every single moment when we're actually in Houston.  Days like this may on unforgotten, but I know that it will help me run what I've set out to on January 14th, 2012.

Soon I was out the door and entering the heat that I'm slowly becoming accustomed to.  Actually, the heat here in Florida is not any different than the heat in North Carolina, and I was grateful that the humidity in Florida wasn't exponentially higher than the NC humidity.  After a 3 mile warmup, I programmed Mr. Garmin to beep at me every 800m and 400m for the interval and the rest.  Mr. Garmin comes in most handy when I'm travelling and am unfamiliar with routes and do not have access to a public track.

I decided to run the roads in Celebration, Florida.  With its perfectly manicured lawns and matching architecture on all of the public buildings and residential areas, Celebration is the near equivalent to the town in Stepford Wives.  The roads were fairly quiet and I was able to complete all of my intervals without any major interruptions besides running on some grass randomly to avoid oncoming traffic. 

While my times weren't speedy, I was pleased with the effort because the terrain varied on each interval as I snaked through the neighborhoods.  I was also really thirsty and was able to make it through all 9 intervals without getting any water (this was mostly due to the fact that I did not find a water fountain until the 9th interval).  Nevertheless, I completed the entire work out and got in a good amount of mileage in for the day, so I came away feeling satisfied and confident that things are moving in the right direction. 

Now I can enjoy the rest of my 48 hours with Garrett before I head back to North Carolina, where I will put all of my energy and focus into running again so that I don't miss Garrett too tremendously, and thereby maintain my sanity.  I did this last summer while training for Twin Cities, and such a method worked out quite well for me, both in terms of my running and of my sanity.  Due to my training regime, race schedule, and travel plans to visit my family, it is likely that I will not be seeing Garrett again for another two months.