last speedwork

I wanted to run this morning, but I didn't sleep very well last night. I was up at 4 and the cat was doing her thing at 6. So I was already tired when I got up at 8. That didn't stop me from getting in my planned speedwork around noon. I got out to the track and warmed up for a mile, then did my running drills. I'm still not 100% on those, but in all honesty I've only done them 3 times so that's not much time to develop those skills. Still they were good and after a few flys for 100 meters I was feeling ready. The legs tightened up just a little, so I again did some light stretching and a few more flys before I toed the line.

I wanted to get a good mile in just to see where I was at. The wind was pretty strong coming from the west and it was very sunny out. Unfortunately it would mean running straight into the wind on the backstretch- where I'm usually kicking and at my strongest. So I started off okay. It's still funny running in spikes, but the warmup went well so I wasn't wasting a whole lot of energy. Two laps went by and I was feeling fine, I knew I'd have to pick it up the third lap because I felt too good and probably mean't the pace was slow. So by the last stretch on the third lap I was feeling it. Final lap was great until again I hit that wind and just didn't have a lot left. I stopped and looked at the stopwatch on the ground- 5:40. Not bad, but certainly not my best either. I kept jogging for a lap and half.

That was all the recovery I gave myself before my next 800. It was a good run, and now I'd have the wind to my back on the stretch since I moved to the other side of the track. Two laps went by pretty quickly and legs were turning over well, but still not as fast I wanted-2:49. This time I took 3 laps as I was pretty tired from basically back to back sprints. I was off again, but this time ran with the stopwatch in my hand. The last lap I had stopped to pick it up while still jogging and dropped it twice.

First lap was a measley 1:25, I knew I'd have to kill the next one, so I pushed. Instead of being on my toes, I let my heel strike just slightly more and that made everything loosen up. Last 200 meters felt good and the last 100 I finally felt like I was sprinting for the first time today- 2:45. I jogged at least another mile or maybe a little farther while drinking water before calling it a day on the track. I didn't need to be prancing around in spikes for more than 5 miles, which is where I was at that point.

Tonight I just felt like I didn't get enough out of the workout today. Granted I worked hard, but I didn't want to overdo anything so close to the race. I probably could have gotten away with more, but most of the work has been done and the risks outweighed the gains for me. Had some sun on my shoulders from being out in the morning too. So anyway got out to the soccer complex again for 6 miles at easy pace- although that turned wrong since I was going so fast earlier today I couldn't help but push. The hunger I had yesterday and the day before was also gone, and other than a little tiredness from the sprints everything was flowing well. It was one of those awesome runs where I just felt excited to be out there.

AM- 5(5.75) miles. 62 degrees sunny w/wind. Forever 11
1600 @5:40 w/600m rec. 800m @2:49, 2:45 w/1200m rec.
PM- 6(7)miles @6:43. 55 degrees. BF 182