change is good

13 miles . . .

20 minute warm-up

4 X 200m at 34 seconds with 200m recovery

3 X 1000m at 3:08 with 3 minutes recovery

4 X 200m at 34 seconds with 200m recovery

3 mile cool down

too many factors have changed since last week. is it a combination of all of these things or just one change? i slept a ton more this weekend than last. i've now been two weeks at this intensity. i rolled out my calves last night, really hard (they were quite knotty and sore). i've been staying on top of my yoga and core work outs. i experimented with eating more before the run (oatmeal with honey and ground seed, half a banana with almond butter).

but during this morning's run, i wasn't thinking about this. i was just delighting in the run. something i haven't done for over a week. i hit my 6:49 pace during my warm-up early on and it became a struggle not go faster. the cool down was similar except i was even going faster (at one point averaging 6:52's and easy?)

the first set of 200m was easy even though it was an effort. 200m recovery is something i doubt i'll ever get use to. i imagine that is the point.

i admit to fearing the 1000m repeats. these are just hard. all effort. in a word these were consistent. scary consistent. like clockwork. 3:07:79, 3:07:90, 3:07:82. and the strange thing, they didn't feel that fast. it felt like i was just cruising along. maybe like a tempo or something. i think i settled into this mindset too much though. because on the last one my 200m time read 39 seconds (two seconds too slow). at the 400m and the 600m i was still off that much. i kicked it up at that point. i thought, no way am i going to get over 3:08. not today. so i pushed, i surged. unlike last week, the gear was there and carried me home.

the second set of 200m seemed strange. my legs felt rubbery on that first one. and although i hit all of my times, i could have done better if i had focused. i think i was just too excited about the 1000m's.

i kept running by a fleece green hat that someone had thrown in the brush beside the trail. i kept thinking about picking it up, taking it home, and washing it 100 times to get rid of whatever things may have been growing in it. i never did. i wonder if it is still there.