There's nothing like a good track workout to beat the running blues. I left home at 5:35 this morning to carpool with Sarah to the Piedmont High School track, about 15 minutes away. I'd been independently invited by two people to join a group that runs there on Thursday mornings, and I finally decided to overrule my aversion to driving to runs and bite.
I was definitely not disappointed. After warming up for 5 laps, I assembled with the others at the start, stretched a bit, and met Joe, the run leader. He gave us the workout: 3x1600 (400 recovery) with a twist: in the second rep, we'd surge the last 100m, and in the third rep, we'd surge the last 200m. The object was to build fatigue while maintaining time.
I thought I could try these at 6:30 pace, but found Scott, another familiar face from Si's school, who was looking at 6:20. He assured me that this track was "fast", so I told him I'd try to hang, when one of his buddies talked him down to 6:10. In for a penny, in for a pound, I joined the group.
As we started, I figured out that this is a pretty fast club. I was in a pack of 10-12, with two other guys ahead of us. In short, the reps went 6:09-6:01-6:07 and felt great. This is a big contrast to how I felt after Saturday's 13 miler, and leaves me actually looking forward to Cow Town next week.
I won't be going to the track again before my race, but I definitely want to join this group again.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Where was I?
Well, I'm in the middle of an extended taper right now, but I'm running again. To recap the last two weeks:
I took four days off until my Achilles stopped hurting when I walked, then an extra day.
9/11: to test things out, I ran up Dwight Way toward the hills, where the road is at a 15%+ grade just before it gives up completely, for 8x :10 sprints up the hill with long recoveries. Things felt OK, and I jogged it home. I had two stop and walk the last two blocks, though, as the tendon flared up again. 4.5 miles total
9/19: Feeling better. It might not have been the best time for it, but I decided that just 2 weeks out from my race I had to try a long run to see if I could do it. The route was 13.6 flat miles on the Greenway with a fast finish - 3 miles in 20:10 - and a short cooldown. I made it through this run without pain, but I felt like I was riding the edge. My legs were also shredded by the end of it, and I was old man walking for two days. Normally I would take the pace of those last three miles as an indication of how I might perform at Cow Town in October, but coming after 2 weeks off, I'd have to say it's a toss-up. 13.6 miles in 1:48.
9/21: A quickie last night just to get things back in alignment. 3.1 miles in 27:15.
I took four days off until my Achilles stopped hurting when I walked, then an extra day.
9/11: to test things out, I ran up Dwight Way toward the hills, where the road is at a 15%+ grade just before it gives up completely, for 8x :10 sprints up the hill with long recoveries. Things felt OK, and I jogged it home. I had two stop and walk the last two blocks, though, as the tendon flared up again. 4.5 miles total
9/19: Feeling better. It might not have been the best time for it, but I decided that just 2 weeks out from my race I had to try a long run to see if I could do it. The route was 13.6 flat miles on the Greenway with a fast finish - 3 miles in 20:10 - and a short cooldown. I made it through this run without pain, but I felt like I was riding the edge. My legs were also shredded by the end of it, and I was old man walking for two days. Normally I would take the pace of those last three miles as an indication of how I might perform at Cow Town in October, but coming after 2 weeks off, I'd have to say it's a toss-up. 13.6 miles in 1:48.
9/21: A quickie last night just to get things back in alignment. 3.1 miles in 27:15.
Monday, September 7, 2009
End of week runs
Friday, 6.9 in 1:01
Saturday, 8.1 in 1:05
Turned Friday's planned tempo into an easy run, and skipped yesterday's planned long run; the complaint in the bottom of my right foot has migrated up to take residence in my Achille's. The timing is really bad, and it's really frustrating, but I'm going to lay off it for a few more days. Only 28 miles last week.
Saturday, 8.1 in 1:05
Turned Friday's planned tempo into an easy run, and skipped yesterday's planned long run; the complaint in the bottom of my right foot has migrated up to take residence in my Achille's. The timing is really bad, and it's really frustrating, but I'm going to lay off it for a few more days. Only 28 miles last week.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Sneaking one in
6x800(400), 7.4 miles total
Well-executed day at work today - I got in early so I could sneak out at midday while the track was open and hoped I wouldn't get kicked out again.
Today's workout was strangely similar to Seebo's: I started out with my IT band and right foot complaining, not to mention a stiff neck, and a shorter warmup than I'd hope for since I was worried about the track closing. I was mentally downgrading my planned 6x800 to a 4x800. Once I hit the track, though, I got into the groove. These went a little tougher than last week, but I nailed most of the repeats. No tractor to run around, but there was an athletic team stretching in lanes 2-8 during my first 3 reps, then jogging clockwise in lane 1 during the last 3. In any event, they went down in 2:59-2:59-3:02-2:56-3:01-3:09. As usual, I didn't check my 200 or 400 splits in the last rep, but unusually I ended up slowing down. I'm not sure if this was fatigue or distraction, but I can't have been as distracted as I must have been during last week's visit to the track; I see that I actually did 7 reps instead of 6 then.
I'll try to peak my miles at 48-50 this week, although finding running time on Wednesday and Thursday will be a challenge, then transition more into speed development for the rest of September.
Well-executed day at work today - I got in early so I could sneak out at midday while the track was open and hoped I wouldn't get kicked out again.
Today's workout was strangely similar to Seebo's: I started out with my IT band and right foot complaining, not to mention a stiff neck, and a shorter warmup than I'd hope for since I was worried about the track closing. I was mentally downgrading my planned 6x800 to a 4x800. Once I hit the track, though, I got into the groove. These went a little tougher than last week, but I nailed most of the repeats. No tractor to run around, but there was an athletic team stretching in lanes 2-8 during my first 3 reps, then jogging clockwise in lane 1 during the last 3. In any event, they went down in 2:59-2:59-3:02-2:56-3:01-3:09. As usual, I didn't check my 200 or 400 splits in the last rep, but unusually I ended up slowing down. I'm not sure if this was fatigue or distraction, but I can't have been as distracted as I must have been during last week's visit to the track; I see that I actually did 7 reps instead of 6 then.
I'll try to peak my miles at 48-50 this week, although finding running time on Wednesday and Thursday will be a challenge, then transition more into speed development for the rest of September.
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