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August 01, 2005
Real Trackwork
Today started ou return to regular trackwork as opposed to doing timed pickups on the track. Twice a year we take some down time and don't do real workouts. In the winter the down time is just easy running because who really wants to try to do any fast running when it is freezing outside. The summer involves some pick-ups on the track or on the roads. Anyhow, tonight was the start of doing a more structured workout. The theory is that after a few weeks of pick-ups our legs are used to doing some faster running.
The heat and humidity started to come back today. The weather people were saying that today was probably the start of the fourth heat wave of this summer. I'm not sure if it officially hit 90, but with the humidity it was definitely hot out. The schedule called for 5 x 800 with a 400 jog, but J told everyone to be smart and listen to what their body was signaling. He changed the agenda to 4-6 800s and to not push too hard. These were not supposed to be all out, instead he said they should be at 10 mile race pace. Well considering the races that I have run this year, my half marathon and 10 mile paces are the same as the 5K's I've run. I decided that I should try to stay as close to 6:00 pace as possible since that is my goal pace for the half.
The first one was a whoops! I held back but there were people doing different workouts on the track, my body felt nice and warm from the weather and I felt fresh. It wasn't too bad, but I did it in 2:56. I really did try to keep the jogs relatively quick, but given how hot it was that was not an easy task. The next two were in 3:00. During the fourth 800 I got really thirsty and J asked how many I was going to do. I told him I was doing five and asked him to get me some water for the jog. He passed me a bottle about fifteen meters from the finish so that one was a little off because of the awkwardness of carrying a bottle and veering off to get it. I think that I also purposely slowed down a touch so that I could feel strong on the last 800. My final 800 which was solo since the guy who I was pretty much running with only did 4 was in 3:03, so that made me happy. In an ideal world I would like the last interval to be as fast if not faster, but given how hot it was and that I was completely alone it was a strong interval.
I'm testing my ice bath and drinking as much water as possible theory. I soaked in the tub with 16 pounds of ice before dinner and now I am trying to drink as much water as humanly possible so that I will be up peeing all night. My hope is that these two things will make tomorrow morning more pleasant.
Happy running all!
Posted by Blondie at August 1, 2005 09:16 PM