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April 2, 2008
Warp Speed
This day has seriously passed by at near warp speed. Where does the time go? I shouldn't be surprised though as my days off ALWAYS fly by quickly. As the over-used saying goes, times sure does fly by when you're having fun!
The fun began this morning on the track. 400s. Ouch, ouch and more ouch. Just like really hard 100s in the pool that leave you clutching the wall, these 400s left me clutching the fence, my knees, the grass. You name it, I was clutching. Of course the problem is that all my track workouts seem to have about ZERO rest in between intervals. What's up with that? I really think that's a triathlon thing. No rest in the pool hardly EVER and then on the track and during farleks and even on the bike, rest intervals are always so short. And I don't think it's just my coach who does that because I've read about others doing the same. When I do this particular workout of 400s on the track the rest is 40 seconds. 40 seconds?!?! When you are running really hard that's not even enough time to think about getting back to the line.
Now back in the day when I was a runner I remember rest intervals being MUCH longer. Occasionally we would do 400s with 1 minute rest but that was like some crazy thing. Mile repeats? Heck, we'd have 3 or 4 minutes rest! A triathlete would have their whole workout done in the time we used to have as our rest interval! :)
But I'm not complaining because I think short rest intervals make you SUPER tough. And I mean SUPER, SUPER tough! Didn't even catch your breathe yet? Oh, too bad, so sad...now get your butt back to the line and GO AGAIN! :) Triathlon is definitely not for the weak of heart. ;)
After the track (which went very well by the way, despite the fact that I wore shorts when the windchill was in the high 20s - I just DON'T do tights in April!), I headed home, snarfed (is that a word?) some cereal and then headed to the pool. The pool and I were getting along very well today and I had a nice strong pull workout. And my shoulder didn't hurt (hurray!).
As I was leaving the pool a man walked in who looked very familiar but whom I couldn't quite place. Where had I seen him before?! It was really bugging me until it finally dawned on me. It was the "since when did your beak get so sharp" guy. AHHHHH!!! Vacate, vacate! I quickly grabbed my pool toys and got the heck out of there! :)
Next up was the weight room. Nothing too exciting there other than the fact that I saw my favorite tattoo guy. He has about a million tattoos and they all seem to be related to Bible verses. He has one long scroll of words that starts around his knee and wraps all the way down his (very large) calf to his ankle and I really want to know what it says. Of course it's pretty hard to get a good look without looking like a creepy stalker so I just try to steal quick glances here and there, none of which have been successful in figuring it out. If I was just a normal person I could just ask him and I'm sure he'd tell me but he scares me a little and always has headphones on. Oh well. I suppose it will remain a mystery to me. :)
Finally I left the YMCA, home for icing, a quick lunch, shower, stretch and then off to the chiropractor/massage therapist for some work on my hips/back and all my other trouble areas. In general I'm thrilled with how healthy I've been feeling (especially the fact that the shoulder pain left as quickly as it came) but staying healthy doesn't come without a lot of work for me. Lots of core exercises, stretching, rolling, icing, PT exercises, massage, etc... But it's worth it 100% and more!
So now somehow it's 5. I should have some time for some laundry, ironing, bills and packing for tomorrow before O gets home for dinner. And at some point I'm going to make sure my road bike is all ready to go for tomorrow because I think it should be nice enough to ride OUTSIDE after work! To the hills I go!
Have a great night everyone!
Posted by beth at April 2, 2008 4:26 PM
Comments
Nice! That is seriously one SOLID day! I've kept speedwork up throughout the off-season, but on the roads instead of the track (that whole snow thing...)
But it's back to the track this week for the start of in-season! And I know *exactly* what you mean about rest intervals (or lack thereof!)
Posted by: Joseph Vinciquerra at April 2, 2008 6:25 PM
YES! You are finally getting to do some of that speed stuff you love so much rather than all the strong base miles! I love reading your painful but awesome training sessions... it gets me fired up!
Posted by: Bree at April 2, 2008 9:08 PM
Sounds like an awesome day! PERFECT! Nice job fitting it all in - you will be FAST FAST FAST for your races this year. Like Bree said - you get me FIRED UP!
Posted by: marit c-l at April 3, 2008 9:41 AM
But the real question is, did beak man recognize you? Thank goodness you were finishing your workout! ;)
From a coach's perspective, distance (5k, 10k, races of this sort) runners typically use 400m interval workouts as peaking workouts run during the week or two before our goal race(s). We run a few of them as close to all-out as we're able, and we do a full recovery after each (This kind of workout would look like 3x400m with walk recoveries until the heart rate returns to XXX.). 400m interval workouts can be used for other purposes, though, such as a VO2max workout, if the paces/recoveries are altered. A VO2max workout might look like 12x400m at 5k race pace with 1 minute jog recoveries.
Every coach has their own style, but for my high school xc runners, I prefer VO2max workouts with increasingly longer intervals as the season progresses, so that my runners will run at their VO2max during each interval for a slightly longer period of time. In my mind, a short interval VO2max workout makes good sense early in the season. OR, in cases like yours and other triathletes, a short interval VO2max workout also makes sense if the training volume is already high and contains a lot of other quality.
Posted by: Meghan at April 3, 2008 12:46 PM
You are a ray of sunshine.
Posted by: David at April 3, 2008 2:32 PM
Just wondering.....since the football field at the track is fieldturf, how were you clutching at the grass? Perhaps you meant the carpet? :)
Posted by: O at April 3, 2008 7:51 PM