It was a beautiful, sunny evening. Warm, at 68 degrees. As much as I love the temps, it's been a challenge to run (and dress for running) amidst this spring's fluctuating weather tantrums. Saturday morning it was 65*. Sunday morning, 45*. Today the high was 75*… This coming Sunday, the highest temperature is slated to be 49*. Make up your mind, Mother Nature, and quit being so dang moody! “That's a woman for you”, says the husband with a maddening grin. “Never knows what she wants.”
At least dressing for my 6x800 track workout was easy. Shorts and tank. I was already sweating profusely during the warmup mile. I told myself to suck it up. The sooner I get acclimated, the easier summer temperatures will be. It was already 6:45pm and would get cooler as I progressed. There was a 15 mph wind going on. Normally I'd view wind as a negative, but tonight it provided welcome cooling relief- for half of every lap, at least.
I've missed you, old buddy!
After racing on Saturday, running 7 miles on Sunday and 8.5 miles yesterday (Tuesday), I was prepared to have my legs feel a bit fatigued for the workout. But heading into the first interval, I felt good. Really good. I clicked in at 3:21, right where I wanted to be for sub-3:25.
The next one, 3:20. And the next. I allowed myself a couple of minutes rest and a water break between the 2 sets of 3. Then I began again. More of the same splits.
My track intervals are run somewhat by feel because I can never tell exactly what the pace is. Garmin irregularities at a track means the actual pace will be 15-20 seconds slower that my watch is showing. Though by the end of the intervals I had learned that to stay in the low 3:20 range, I had to be under 6:20 pace on the watch.
Gah. #5… this is getting painful.
And then I had 6 intervals under my belt. They were still coming in at the same paces. I was tiring, but not too winded after the recoveries. It was cooling down, too. So I told myself one more, for good measure.
After that, well, it would just be weird to stop at an odd number and an awkward mileage total. So off I went for the 8th and final interval. It hurt, but I guess the last one is supposed to hurt.
That cool-down mile felt even more sweet and rewarding than usual.
Aaaaaand, the data: 8 miles total. 8x800 at 6:40-6:45 pace (Garmin weirdness, as mentioned: 3:21 av. does not translate to 6:13-6:20 pace).
Consistency, yay! Including my heart rate, which means I was pacing with equal effort across the board. I can't wait to see what I can do with a true Yasso 800 (x 10!) workout a few months from now, knee deep in marathon training.
I walked away from the workout exhausted, satisfied, happy. It's good to be back on track.
