This was the second Thursday in a row that I was able to get out and do my speedwork; that makes me happy. Its probably also my last solo speedwork for a while, since next Tuesday I’m joing up with the Gazelles. Got out to the trail at 6am, stretched and did about five minutes of warmup jogging, then stretched some more and headed for the track. This time I wanted to go out stronger and cut my interval time down to 1/4 track of walking instead of 1/2.

I should mention that I also ate a lot of food last night (baked potato, salad, beans, corn, etc) at about 9pm, had no breakfast, and forgot to put any fluids in the car to drink on the way over to the trail. Also, I normally keep a large box of licorice allsorts to munch on just before and after a workout like this - they’re in the garage.

Anyway, I get out to the track and all is good. Did a slow lap for some more warmup, some final stretching, and get lined up. There was only one other person on the track when I got there, but about 10 minutes into it Gilbert’s group started showing up, then warming up, then finally running.

Time: 1:48 - 1:41 - 1:39 - 1:36 - 1:39 - 1:34 - 1:38 - 1:41
Pace: 7:15 - 6:46 - 6:38 - 6:26 - 6:38 - 6:18 - 6:34 - 6:46

I was a lot more tired after doing these than I was last week. I only kept the 1/4 lap walk the first four times, too: my heart rate was still way high so I backed it down to 1/2 lap walk after that. Even so, my times surprised me. I was going all out, breathing hard by the last 1/3 of a lap, and I felt like I was just dropping the pace, even though I wasn’t. I do think I was going out too hard for the first 100m or so and then slowing down for the last 100, which is probably not a Good Thing to be doing.

Even so, I’m pretty happy with the workout now. Its funny, because I really wasn’t at the time - I think I was running a little low on blood sugar by the end of it which makes me a little stupid sometimes. My goal from last week was to do 8×400 at a 7:00-7:15 pace. Instead, I do a 6:15-6:45 pace. So I guess I didn’t officially make my goal… still, I’m not complaining!

Popularity: 3%