SPEED!!!

05/05/09
Tuesday

Well my first track session and even though I call it a speed workout, I actually did not go all out as I do not want any nagging injuries for the 50K. I guess I am officially in taper mode....aren't I?

The rain decided not to hold off and just like the Red Soxs, we continued until the end reguardless. Usually I welcome a bit of rain for the cooling affect but tonite it was a very cold rain. It didn't bother me too much until I stopped running and suddenly the shivers took over.

I started with a three mile warmup run to be sure my muscles were as limber as I could get them. You see I tend to have my biggest problems by injuring myself during the active warmup drills. I don't feel like I am overdoing it until the stabbing pain hits.

The agenda was 4x200 intervals with 100 jog recoveries (@ 100% of mile time) then 8x400 intervals with 100 walk recoveries (@80-90% of mile time) I did not run the mile time trial last week and I figure I could pull off a 7 minute with no problem so in the essense of tapering, I used 7:20 pace as my guideline.

Of course one never seems to be able to follow the plan and this was no different. I planned the 200s at 55 secs(7 min pace...OK so 110% of mile time) and the 400s at 2 minutes (which really is 80% of mile time).

Instead I did the 200s at 50-55 secs averaging 6:48 pace (120% of mile time) and the 400s at 1:52-1:55, averaging 7:16 pace (110% of mile time).....see what I mean?
It's OK though as I felt great and the workout went very smooth. I suppose it prooves that my 7:20 estimate was a bit conservative.

After the workout I ran a pretty fast cooldown mile and shivered to my truck to warm up. I think I did all the right things as I was not spent and all my muscles felt very good. In the end I ran 8 miles for the night and managed some speed work at the same time.

3.2 mile warm up 27:02...(8:26 pace)
.5 mile form running and drills
4x200 intervals @6:48 pace
8x400 intervals @ 7:16 pace
1 mile cooldown @7:54 pace
Went home very wet and cold.......totals mile for the workout. 8.1