4.14.09

Finally got some speedwork in. Boy was this workout a wakeup call. I think my last speed session was like a month ago, and the one before that was a month before as well. Not too great fitness wise, but time wise I actually surprised myself a bit. After a 3 mile warmup around 7 minute pace I switched to my road racing shoes and did my form drills. My left tendon (just behind the knee) was doing it's normal thing. Sort of a "click" happens when I pull my foot up toward my hamstring. It doesn't really affect anything, but I've come to the conclusion that is from the last 10 years of not stretching, and the last two basically just spent tightening up the hams.

It was kind of colder today, but a relatively comfortable cold. The sun wasn't out so that helped with staying cool. Shorts and a cotton t-shirt seemed to be the right fit today, other runners at the track had sweat suits/jackets on, but I usually like it on the colder side. So I had no real plans other than 4x400 and maybe more depending on how I felt. So I run the first one. This is tricky because I have an ipod, a HR monitor, and a stopwatch but mostly I just have to be sure that the stopwatch has activated otherwise I'm pretty much screwed, I could really care less about the ipod data. The other tricky part is having to throw the stopwatch down right at the start, so I don't have to hold on to it while running, it's hard enough to run, but then you've got a big watch with a shoelace swinging around it makes it kind of difficult.

So I toe the line, press the start on the stopwatch and I take off flying. I was breathing pretty good by the end and was pretty much amazed by seeing a 67 on the watch as I ran by! Holy crap I really wasn't expecting that. My goal was 72-74. Yeah, I really am in no mans land when it comes to the "faster" stuff. I just haven't done enough of it yet to know what the difference in pace feels like. It all just feels hard to me. So I took two minutes rest, walking around for recovery. Normally for these you want to minimize rest, but considering this was my first fast stuff since like high school, i figured more is better for now.

Lap 2 was tough. There was a pretty good wind on the homestretch about 12mph and I was struggling to get to the line with my form in tact and this time I was breathing hard at 300. Lap two was 71. That one hurt so I realized I needed a lot more rest. I relied on my HR monitor and waited till it got back down to 112-115 which took a good five minutes (with jogging a lap and walking). So after a pretty good break I was ready for number three. For these type of workouts you just have to go do it, no complaining or moseying around, just put your toe on the line, click the thing and take off. I definitely felt the first two on this one and again I was breathing hard and the last 100 was pretty tough. Lap three was 70. I took another long break after this one, but knowing I had only one left was good and I pretty much ruled out doing any more after that.

So this time I got off to a great start, my knees haven't been that high in ten years and I was real smooth at first, but I felt myself slow down before hitting 200 and basically just pushed from there the rest of the way, pretty much dying at the end. Last lap was a 69. For all the times they are give or take a second because for one I have to find the stopwatch on the ground, and like for the last one, I had to turn it over to see what the time was. I did a mile or so after that and switched back to my free's again. They felt like flip flops it was a weird feeling to switch them. Ran another mile or two in those.

So it was very interesting just to go fast. My little left tendon thing went away as soon as I started running fast, which is kind of wierd I guess it just needs loosening up. I really killed the first lap and that took a lot out of me for the rest of the workout. I need to run 74's to break five, so this workout was a fairly decent indicator of my pace. I will get these times down a ton just by getting on the track more, it feels night and day compared to pavement. Because of the "cushion" it sort of feels like I'm sinking and is a little hard to run on because of that. It's something I will have to get used to again, this summer I plan on pretty much living there. The other nice thing about the track is instant feedback on pace every lap. I know exactly how many miles I've ran and what pace I'm doing it at without really needing a pedometer or anything else, just a watch. Unfortunately my HR monitor watch doesn't have a "second hand" readout, so it just shows full minutes. That is so dumb how hard would have it been to add a tiny little display of the seconds? But it was a gift, so I am happy to use it.

I left this workout feeling comfortably tired. I could have done maybe one or two more, but like I said, I'm just getting started no reason to overdo things. I mean I've been training to run a marathon, not a single mile for heaven's sake! Thursday I'd like to do something either hills or speed, maybe a combo fartlek would work I dunno. Then Saturday do some more speedwork, maybe repeat today's workout, and monday do another. So one day of rest and then another workout and repeat? ...I'll probably take a few of those workouts easy and make Monday's a tempo with decreasing pace for the last four miles. Then it'll be three days of rest and time to race a mile :)

I took a break from the internet today to focus on my painting. It's coming along, maybe three more days to go, but it's taking more time than I anticipated. I'll leave note for my twitter peeps tonight.

6:20pm. track. Cloudy 57° F 59%H From WNW 12 mph(chilly)
50:01(7.63), gf 659, fasttwitch 47
4x400m @ 67,71,70,69 w/full recovery
36.44 warmup AHR116 MHR171
13.55 workout w/recovery AHR137 MHR178
23.28 cooldown AHR160 MHR174
sleep AHR54/MHR88