ok

Got my entry form turned in for the race, I was going to mail it, but had forgotten so I dropped it off. Since i had to go home first to get the check I ended up going back by the school to drop it off and decided to run on the track. I had thought about it today at school- and got excited at the thought of a fast mile. So that is what I did- a mile warmup, some dynamic stretches, then just went for it.

I ran the first two laps with my stopwatch in hand- knowing full well I needed to be around 75-80 for my goal pace of 5:10-5:20, which seemed reasonable enough. At 200 I was already at 37 which mean't I was on pace, but started slowing even after a lap. Unfortunately it was a little windy out- but I was running pretty hard anyway and didn't really notice it. Lap 2 was 2:40, I thrust my stopwatch down because I knew it would take all I had to match those first two laps again. Lap three I was breathing hard and although I wasn't out of breath I was certainly having troubles. The last lap was pretty bad too. I couldn't go much faster if at all and was breathing way too hard. But all the same I sped up for the last hundred. Since the stopwatch was on the ground it's hard to tell what the time was exactly, but I read 5:33 just after crossing the line.

This mile is actually quite revealing. Although it is pretty much the same as my last mile two thing were different- the wind and no spikes. These things may have made me able to go faster. The second thing I noticed was my legs were tired and they normally aren't. This has to do with the surface of the track and that "sinking" that I'm not used to since I'm on roads. The previous mile I ran was slightly slower- but I was in the same situation as now with very little speed training. This is the last and most important thing -- I've yet to really push that anaerobic capacity that Lydiard talks about in his book. He says it's "not important" and is the easiest thing to increase, obviously with the necessary painful excruciating work. Mine needs lots of increasing. He states that training two days then one off for four weeks or something along those lines will maximize it. I'll have to read that passage again, but I think that is very possible for me. The main philosophy is that I've maxed out my aerobic system (oxygen transfer) and now it's time for anaerobic system (oxygen capacity). Again that is a much abbreviated and generalized statement, but you get the drift.

The other thing to note was my cooldown/warmup miles were run at 7:20 pace. This would lead me to believe the ipod pace is quite close (but faster as I had previously observed). I liked having that precise information available- it's just more affirmative than adjusting and guesstimating like I normally do. In other words I expect much more track work in the near future.

5 miles w 1mile @5:32. 60 degrees windy. BF 229