Things were a little rough at the beginning of the week, but I was pretty sure I knew why….the long run I took last Sunday. Leaving my comfy treadmill deck at HealthQuest for the hard streets probably wouldn’t have made that much of a difference if I’d kept it short. But pushing myself to go for a full hour was overdoing it. So I took Monday completely off, tried an easy run on Tuesday (still didn’t feel very good) and then gave myself a test on Wednesday. I was scheduled to run some mile intervals, and decided to push the first one up to 9.7 mph to get a guage as to how close to my November goal (run a sub-6:00 mile) of 10 mph I was.
I’d run 1.25 miles at 9.5mph a few weeks ago, so this shouldn’t have been that difficult….but it was. Halfway into it I knew I wasn’t going to make it; I ended up taking short rests on each of the last two laps. I did not feel good at all, but I finished up the workout as best I could. I tried to convince myself that the after-effects of the long run were to blame, but it’s always disheartening to have such a poor performance. Fortunately my next scheduled workout was 400 intervals, and that’s becoming one of my favorites. So I would have a chance to redeem myself.
I had tweaked this workout a little bit, cutting my rest intervals by 30 seconds (to 2:30) and opting to run for 90 seconds instead of 400 meters. So at my 11.5 mph pace I would actually be running for about 10 seconds beyond the 400 finish line. I eased my way into it, running the first at 10.5, the second at 11.0, and then proceeded to finish the workout with six more at 11.5 mph. The last couple were tough but managable. That was more like it!
Today’s workout was four 800s. When I last did this workout a couple of weeks ago my pace was 10.3, 10.5, 10.2, and 10.0. I started at 10.5 today, felt good and strong, and was able to maintain that pace on all three of the next intervals. Again the last two were pretty tough, but I was able to push through and finish them cleanly. In looking back at my middle distance workouts from last year at this time, I show two different days where I attempted to run just two 800s at 10.5mph, and both times I failed to finish the second one.
My plan this year was to increase my running volume over last year and not to worry as much about increasing speed. This is the first time that I’ve had distance and speed match up so that I can compare my progress. Obviously I’m much stronger, so it will be interesting to see if I will be able to convert that into more speed as I get closer to my next competition.
My workouts in the weight room this week all went reasonably well and I was happy with the quality of the work I put in. The split squats I do at the end of my leg day are killers. They target the hamstring like nothing I’ve ever done before. My elbow rehab seems to be working; I threw the 8# ball again with no ill effects. The shoulder has been a little touchy, but I’ve been pushing on it pretty hard. The biggest news is that I think I finally found an exercise I can do to help my upper body strength for shot put. Strangely enough it’s done on my favorite lower body machine. I will try and post some video of this special adaptation later this week.
I do feel a little more “beat up” than I would like. It’s from a combination of factors, but mostly from adding the new exercises and ramping up the intensity. The low back and both hamstrings are still stiff and sore, and the feet, knees, and shoulder will pronnounce their displeasure on occasion. It’s all part of the package when you’re seeking your fame and fortune as a masters track & field athlete. Hopefully by next week I will have grown accustomed to the new routine and will be feeling a little more comfortable,
Trample the Weak-Hurdle the Dead 