Am I Expecting Too Much?

06/30/09
Tuesday

Missed track because of a sudden commitment. I was disapointed on my way home from work, but things happen and schedules change. It is something we all need to adapt too. Problem is that Time trials were scheduled tonight and I was looking forward to see how well I have progressed.

As it turns out, I got lucky and was done at 6:30. Of course I didn't have time to drive all the way to Auburn, but I decided I could go to the local track and do the workout on my own. I figured I would probably not have enough time to get the whole workout in but at least I could run a time trial.

Upon arriving at the track, I found the summer track program for middle schoolers in progress. This creates a bit of interference as the kids just don't think track edicate and are not given good direction by the conselers. I knew this from last year as I ran into the same problem at this track.

My warmup went pretty good with only having to dodge a few loiterers, but I knew the speed work would be much tougher. With the kids working on hurddles and running I found it difficult to do stretches and form work so instead of doing 6x100 striders, I decided to do 8x100 sprints with 100 full recovery.

At the time I thought this would be a good warmup for the time trial and while I was running them, I felt quite strong. My pace was hugging the 5-5:45 mark with the fastest @ 5:02 pace. I could feel a bit of leg fatigue during the last one and started wondering if I had made a smart choice.

I knew my 1 mile trial would probably be a little slower tonite as I had no one to run with, which normally will push me to a faster pace and there were a lot of kids running and standing around......pretty much in the way with little reguard for others on the track.

Yeah the track is for the kids, but I do pay taxes in this town so I do have some rights. I hoped for 1:45x 400 splits which is 7 minute pace and if I kick good on the last lap I would be under 7 minute pace by 5 or 10 seconds. Just about where I feel I should be.

The first two laps went pretty good with very little interference with the kids. I guess they were paying a bit more attention than I thought. My third lap didn't go so well as my legs were heavy and I just couldn't seem to get enough oxygen. I tried to push hard on the forth but really had no kick.

I think the 8x100s were a mistake at the speed I was running them and it showed in my time trial. Either that or I am just not progressing like I should. It is what it is though and I will have to go forward from here.

After the mile time trial, I felt pretty spent and was discouraged with my performance. It seemed that 8x400 @ 100% of the new trial, (which is what the workout called for this week) was out of the question at this moment. Oh, I used the excuse in my mind that it was getting late but honestly, I didn't feel up to running them tonight, so I ran a mile cooldown and went home.

Workout:
1 mile warmup 8:37 pace
8x100 sprints @5:20 average pace
splits:
5:38
5:19
5:50
5:02
5:21
5:02
5:31
5:15

1 mile time trial @ 7:05 pace
Splits:
1:43...(target 1:45)
3:28...(target 3:30)..split.1:45
5:20...(target 5:15)..split.1:52
7:05...(target 6:50)..split.1:45 no real kick.

1 mile cooldown @8:46
Total track workout 4 miles.

This workout left me wondering if I am expecting too much this year. Yeah I have a great base after training for and running the 50K, but the three surgeries so far, the fact that I haven't accomplished the weight loss I planned combined with my seemingly low energy level, have me wondering if this will end up being a dissapointing season.