A Big Push

This morning the alarm went off and all I wanted to do was stay in my warm bed and skip going out into the 58 degree morning for a Terrier run. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I've got this great new roommate, who pushed me out of bed just in the nick of time so that I could make it to the run on time.

We did our normal strides workout, although I lost track of how many we did, but it definitely felt like more than usual. I think it probably was, because we are normally on our way to the real run by 6:15 and today we didn't get started until about 6:20, so I'm guessing that instead of the normal 0.5 or 0.6 miles, it was was most likely a little bit longer, maybe around 0.7?

Once we were done with the strides, the workout for the Olympic group was to do two loops of the lower loop of the park (1.7 miles per loop). I told myself starting out that I would just take my time and not be worried about everyone else just blowing by me. After I had been running for about 5 minutes, Robert caught up to me and asked how I was doing. I told him that slowing down a bit had made my legs really happy and I haven't had any more cramps, but that I was still a little nervous about Westchester. He said that I shouldn't worry and that I'll be fine.

I did my first loop in just about 16:23 (if I remember correctly what the watch said). I then continued on my way for the second loop. When I got to the "Start", there were 4 or 5 Terriers there with Robert, doing some of the speed workout. He called out to me and I said that I was still on my second loop and he said, "Yeah, well, you're only doing one" and so I stopped there. I had gone 2.3 miles in 22:23 (9:43 pace). Not too bad for someone who was taking their time.

Then Robert made me do some speed work. We were all supposed to do 4-6 sprints when we were done with the two loops in the park. I just got started on mine a little earlier than I expected. He had me run a 400 x 2 and then said that I should run the 200 in half the time minus 5. So, if I ran the 400 in 2:00, then the 200 should be in 0:55.
These were my times:

400 (1/4 mile) in 2:11 (8:43 pace)
200 (1/8 mile) in 1:01 (8:07 pace)
200 recovery jog

400 (1/4 mile) in 2:13 (8:52 pace)
200 (1/8 mile) in 1:00 (8:00 pace)
200 recovery jog

Not too bad. I'm sure I could have gone a little faster on the 200s, but I was really trying to make sure I didn't over-run in the beginning 400 so that I wouldn't miss my goal times in the 200s.

After that, I finished up with 4 x 200 sprints. I will say right now that I did not go all out, but I knew I was going just about as fast as I could if I was going to do more than one of these.
These are my times:

200 (1/8 mile) in 1:06 (8:48 pace)
200 recovery jog

200 (1/8 mile) in 1:01 (8:07 pace)
200 recovery jog

200 (1/8 mile) in 1:00 (8:00 pace)
200 recovery jog

200 (1/8 mile) in 1:02 (8:16 pace)

I'm estimating that I did the 200 recovery jogs in about 1:30 each time, although I really have no idea. It never once occurred to me to time them and I'm sure I would have been confused with all the numbers once I got home anyway! As it was with all those minute-long times, it was a lot of recording for one day. After doing those four 200s, I was ready to head home for the day. I was really, really glad that I got pushed out of bed and am so far sticking to my training schedule for the week. In related news, I'm actually going to switch Wednesday and Friday's workouts so that I can go swimming with Laura tomorrow morning. When I made my original plan, I thought she would be out of town on Wednesday, but turns out she'll be here, so we're going to go all out and have a pool wetsuit swim tomorrow. Maybe I'll also practice wearing my race gear underneath since it's always a little different with clothes versus a bathing suit on under a wetsuit.

Total mileage for the day: 5.0 (including strides)
Non-stride mileage: 4.3 in ~42:00 (9:48 pace)
Calories: 471
Max HR: 192
Average HR: ~188