20 minute warm-up
6 X strides with full recovery
5 X 4:00 at :37.5's 200m with 3 minutes recovery
20 minute cool down
last night i had my doubts about this pace. i considered for a fleeting moment of reverting back to last weeks pace for this workout. i couldn't stay on pace last week. what makes me think that i could do it this week 3 seconds faster? i ended up pushing those thoughts down, way down, far out of my mind. i had worked for four weeks at that fitness level. mr. daniels tells me that i am ready to push my body again. i must learn to trust my coach even if he only communicates to me with ink and paper.
the morning is beautiful. a nice fog. a day that is neither cold nor warm. no wind. the perfect fall running weather.
i found the warm up to be surprisingly easy. i hit my pace at 6:49 fairly early on. lost it for a bit on the steep uphill a mile into it. but i got it back with ease.
sitting in the car, i stalled. again doubt loomed over me. i could just put in large miles today and forget about the track work out. again i had to push these doubts out of me. i headed towards the track.
the strides went fine. i didn't push really hard on these. the effort of the next part of my work out loomed over me. i wasn't really focused on the strides. i was also consciously holding myself back.
and then i had to pee. i don't know if this is an unconscious stalling method but it worked. i'm in the football locker room at the urinal. i stall further by reading the names of the players over their lockers and the list of team goals. now i realize that i am stalling and sort of walk/run/jog to the start. i take another moment of pseudo-stretching and then i begin.
it's not rare for my first 200m of any work out to be a bit fast. i am ahead of pace by 2 seconds. after one lap i look down at my watch. it should read 1:15 right on. but instead it's at 1:13. so i back off the pace a little. at the next mark i am still 2 seconds faster than pace. this continues for the entire 4 minute workout. and what is stranger, i feel great. it was a hard effort, obviously, but it wasn't death. i take my three minute recovery and go into the second one. it's the same story. so is the third one. whenever i fall behind by a second or half second, i dig in a little and then i am 2 seconds quicker than pace. this is beautiful. the fourth one i can feel but i still hit everything right on.
then comes the fifth one. the last one. when exhaustion sets in. i run it pretty much the same as the fourth one. but then i notice that i am behind by a second after the half mile mark. i try to kick it up but my legs fail. i am still a second or so off at the 1000m mark. i try to push it, to find that extra gear. it's just not there. i end up hitting the 1200m at 3:46 when it should be 3:45. but now for the good news. that last little bit. that last little 3/4 turn of the track. i push it. this is the fastest last section of all five.
and even this one. the slowest of the day. it was faster than the fastest one from last week by over 2 seconds.
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