200 Meter Repeats on the Track

Goal:
2-4 miles of 200m on / off track session (to practice precise pacing and also to come away with an avg. pace to get in a tempo effort) - 200 on (40) - 200 off (50) for anywhere from 3200-6400 meters (cutting anywhere in between is fine, even if an odd distance)

Actual:
3 miles warmup
3 miles in 17:30 with 400m anywhere from 39-40.5 and the off anywhere from 46-49 with mile splits of 548, 551, 551
3:41 jog rest with some fast with Michelle, then 2 more with chad at
37
50
37
18 min cool down for 10 miles cool down

At 6:45AM on Friday, I headed out the door with Aaron, Michelle, Chad, Phil and Danielle to the JCSU track.  JCSU was prepping for graduation, so there were 3 huge boards right after the start line to protect the track from the trucks carrying stage equipment.  The boards were a little wobbly, so we decided to start first with the slower 200m.  Of course, we went out a little too fast (43) but eventually brought it back to a slower pace, closer to 50s.  The workout was really fun with such a big group, but I definitely started to feel tired after 3 miles, so I called it quits.  Then after doing an easy lap and 200m fast with Michelle, I decided to jump in with Chad to help him finish up the last of his workout.  It was good to get in the work and it wasn’t overly exerting.  On Saturday, my legs felt totally fresh so I realized that I probably should have just done 4 miles of the 200’s.  Oh well!

12x400m at JCSU

Goal:
2x(4-6x400m) @ 80 for 1st set and faster for 2nd set with 200m rest faster than 75s

Actual:
2.5M warmup
6x400m @ 79 (60), 81 (59), 77 (65), 78 (62), 79 (59), 80
600m jog rest b/w sets in 3:27
6x400m @ 78 (61), 79 (65), 79 (70), 78 (66), 77 (66), 76
2.5M+ cool down for ~10 miles total

Not much to report here today.  I ran to JSCU with Phil and Paul and completed a couple ovals on the track.  With Phil's help, I hit all the prescribed times and didn't feel too bad doing it.  In fact, I felt 100 times better than I did on Tuesday for my two mile repeats.  This comes as a surprise because on both Wednesday and Thursday I left work at 4PM because I was so ridiculously tired that I took 90 minute naps both days until 6PM.  Today I didn't have that overwhelming exhaustion when I jumped out of bed and had a fun time running at the blue track.  This was my first time doing two workouts in one week in a very, very long time, so I'm interested in seeing how my body will recover from this next week.

3x2 Miles on DSL

Goal:
3-4x2 Miles @ 550-555 on the first 3 intervals (548s would be acceptable, but no 545s) with 2:00 rest. Assuming you are feeling strong and up for a 4th interval, that one can either remain in same target range or else you can push it more like 10k effort.

Actual:
3.4 mile warmup
3x2 Miles @ 
555, 551 (201)
550, 557 200)
554, 557
2.3 mile cool down for 12 miles total

So this definitely wasn't what I wanted out of this workout, but I'll take it.  I knew getting out of bed at 5:15am that this was going to be a doozy.  My legs felt tired, but I knew the work needed to get done.  I met Phil and Eric at the speed loop and after a couple more laps of warmup, we headed to our start line, ready to attack the Dilworth 2 Mile Speed Loop.  After the first mile, 5:55 pace felt more like 5:35 pace, and I knew it would be a struggle to just get three sets done.  However, I knew I would not walk away without completing at least three.

The funniest part about this workout is that we all felt so bad that the three of us didn't even run in a pack.  Phil was about five meters in front of me and I was about five meters in front of Eric.  I was so tired that I didn't even have the motivation to put in a couple quicker steps to catch up to Phil.  Regardless, once we finished, Eric and I looked at each and both said, "well, that was terrible."  And with that, we cooled down and put the workout behind us.

4x2 Mile with 2:00 Rest

Goal:
4x2mile with 2 min rest @ 6:00, 6:00, 5:50, 5:50

Actual:
2.5 mile warmup
4x2 mile with 2:00 rest in 47:36
5:58 / 6:00 - 11:58 (2:01)
5:53 / 5:58 - 11:51 (2:00)
5:52 / 5:58 - 11:49 (2:15)
5:58 / 6:00 - 11:58
1.8 mile cool down for ~13 miles

Honestly, if it weren't for Billy and Phil, I definitely wouldn't have done this workout.  I went to bed last night with a sore ab, and I just thought it was a tummy ache at that point.  Little did I know that the pike ab exercise I did on Tuesday morning would such a negative effect on my pathetically weak ab muscles.

On the warmup, it felt like someone was stabbing my lower ab with a knife.  My form was all messed up and I felt like I was hunching over to accommodate for the pain.  I decided to do the warmup and try one interval and assess the odds of my workout success after that.  Before starting, I performed a little self massage on my lower right ab and reluctantly toed the line with the boys.  Surprisingly, the ab wasn't too bad on the first one, so I decided to go for another one.  On the second, it still wasn't great, but not noticeably terrible like it was on the warmup.  Somehow I was able to finish all four of the intervals without pulling any ab or fainting from pain.  These weren't at the times that I had been hoping for, but given the circumstances, I was really pleased with this effort.

13x400m on Speed Loop

Goal:
5 Mile Wave

Actual:
3 mile warmup
13x400m with 1:00 rest at 76-79
2.5 cool down for ~9 miles total

I was going to do a 5 mile wave tempo, but I hadn't done speed in a while and I had the Moe's Burrito Dash coming up on Saturday.  So I switched things up and opted to do a tempo next week.   Phil came out with me for the first 5 intervals, but then the top of his foot began to hurt and so he dropped out.  Later he sent me a snapchat with a picture of him in a boot -- stress reaction.  With him out, I changed my strategy because my motivation was wavering.  I relaxed as much as possible going through the first half and then once I passed the 200m mark, I changed gears to push really hard.  This method seemed to work really well for me because all of my times began to drop.  I was running 1-2 seconds faster than I had with Phil!  After I completed 13 400s, I called it a day and ran home, feeling satisfied with the effort.

4xMile Repeats on DSL

Goal:
4-5xmile with 2:30 rest

Actual:
3.4 Mile Warmup
4xmile with 2:30 rest @ 5:31, 5:29, 5:30, 5;31
2 mile cool down for 10 miles total

My trusty sidekick Caleb joined me for probably the fourth week in a row for this early morning workout, yet again on the Dilworth Speed Loop.  Phil and Aaron joined us for the specific mile repeats while Jason and Paul did their own thing.  From the start, I felt great.  My legs felt light and my feet bounced easily off the pavement.  My breathing was definitely heavy, but mentally I didn't let it get to me.  After the third one, I could tell that everyone was feeling a little sluggish and down on the workout, and Phil and Caleb said they were done.  I made a deal with them that we would just do one more 800m and then be done.  Secretly, it was my way to get them to do at least half of the next interval with me so that I could have some company.  At the 800m mark for the 4th interval, they all stopped and I kept on going.  Aaron had been pulling away from us and when he saw that I was still powering on, he slowed up to push me along for the final half.  His company was very helpful because I was finally starting to feel a little tired.  I was very pleased to run all of these at basically the same pace.  Back in October, I ran 6xmile in ~5:47 average and was totally smoked by everyone I was running with.  My fitness continues to get better with each passing week!

Pre-Race Fartlek

Goal:
8-6-4-2-1 with half rest gradually getting faster

Actual:
3 mile warmup
8-6-4-2-1 starting at 545 pace and getting faster to about 5:20 pace
2 mile cool down for 10 miles total

I wanted to get in at least 3 miles of work for my pre-race workout, but still get some turnover, so I drew this workout out from the dust. I hadn't done this since before Twin Cities, so it was nice to pull something out that I hadn't done in quite some time.  Fortunately, Phil was open to doing this workout too, which I was very grateful for since this workout is much harder than it seems.  Of course, I wanted to start out at like 550-600 pace, but I took us off much faster than that and had to maintain that faster pace for the remainder of the workout.  I had worked the night before until 8:00PM, so I believe that this made me feel like the effort was much harder than it should have been.  However, I was still pleased with the splits and the effort.  I've got the Rumba on the Lumber 5k on Saturday, so this was a great tune-up in preparation.