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November 15, 2004
Monday Night Madness
Tonight the Eagles play Monday Night Football in Dallas. Now I don't live and breathe Eagles green like some folks round here, but I definitely do like my birds. The name of that team from Dallas is practically a curse word in these parts, even though we have beat them many times since Andy Reid took over. It's not too safe to be cheering for the opposing team in Philly. Eagles fans are particularly tough, they even threw snowballs at Santa Claus one year.
The weather today was much warmer and less windy than it was over the weekend. This provided for pleasant conditions for the track tonight. I had myself all psyched for the workout I thought that we were going to do tonight, 16 x 300 with a 100 jog. I got myself ready all day and had even figured out what kind of pace that I wanted to aim for. Anyhow, after we finished the warm-up J asked if everyone liked doing the 400s with a full recovery last week. A few of the people (we had a really small group tonight) said they thought that we should be doing more, but J explained that these should be right around 5K pace because we are getting a longer recovery. It was decided that we would do 10 x 400 with a 400 jog. The thing I was most excited about was that the barriers were turned inward so that we could run in lane 1.
I didn't get to start my watch for the first 400 so I have no idea what I did that in. J and J the tri-guy (I have to differentiate them somehow) ran the first few together. I caught them on the recovery between numbers 2 and 3, but then they pulled ahead again leaving me in no-man's land. After 5 J dropped off because he was having some serious tightness in his calf and did not want to push through it. I caught J the tri-guy after the sixth quarter and finished the workout with him. Other than number 3 where I ran faster than I have in about 3 years, I hit all of my 400s in 86. Number 3 was an 83-way too fast. I assume that because I'm still not too comfortable running in the dark that I would be close to 2 seconds faster in daylight. I did hit all of them right around 5K pace. It was amazing how fast it felt to me. This year I have done very little true speed work, more pace work. I think that next year I'm going to try to incorporate a true speed day once every two weeks or so. I just do not have the leg speed that I would like to have to get my 5K time down where I'd like it to be.
My ankle was feeling much better again today. Usually I wear flats or lightweight trainers on the track. Since my ankle has been so tender this fall I have not worn them at all. In fact, when I wear them in races it seems to feel worse so I don't want to push my luck. I have races planned for the next three weekends.
I want to catch up on what everyone else has been up to before kick-off. I'd like to see a little bit of the game before I have to go to bed...
Posted by Blondie at November 15, 2004 08:28 PM