200s and 400s

I ran my track workout on Monday at the Glenwood Middle School track in 81 degree temps with 12mph winds from the south and 56% humidity. Supposedly the wind was gusting to 16 mph but it seemed that every time I wanted it to blow and cool me off I got nothing.

I ran a mile warm-up in 8:29 and a mile worth of strides in 7:53, I jogged the curves and accelerated on the straights. The workout consisted of 3 sets of 2x200 meters in 43 seconds, each followed by 200 meter recovery jogs, plus a 400 meter run in 1:27 followed by a 400 meter recovery jog, rinse and repeat. I ran my first set in 39.61, 43.20, and 1:27.92. Set number two was: 44.26, 42.21, and 1:28.09. The last set was 42.09, 42.89 and 1:27.85. It was a strange practice in that you really had no way of telling if you were going to run a 39 second 200 or a 44 second 200. You really had to pay attention to what pace felt right. I'm sure that the object of the practice was just that.

I ran my recovery 200s anywhere from 1:11 - 1:31 and my 400s in 2:19 - 2:39. It got hot in the late going and I was trying to get my HR down under 170 before I started my next rep. I cooled down with three laps around the track and a lap around the infield with my shoes off. The grass on my toes felt pretty nice.

I woke myself up at 0430 on Tuesday morning for a nice 4 mile recovery run. It was 62 with no wind and 86% humidity. I ditched the HR monitor because it was dark and I couldn't find it and I think the battery is dying in it anyway. I ran my 4 miles in 34:21 after a very sluggish first mile of 9:05, followed by an 8:18, 8:20 and 8:37. I made myself slow down the last mile since I'm supposed to be running 8:32 miles on my easy days. I ended up averaging slower than that but I think I need to keep it slow on easy days to be more recovered and ready for my hard days.

Tomorrow is going to be a rough workout. It is supposed to be in the low 80s with a chance of thunderstorms and I am going to do cruise intervals of a mile in 6:51 pace with one minute breaks. I plan on doing 3 mile intervals with a two mile warm-up and a 1 mile cool-down. Last week's three mile tempo run at about that pace felt pretty easy but it was only 67 with 89% humidity and 9 mile winds to cool me down. Tomorrow might not be as kind and gentle.