The timing for the weather was perfect too. I want to run fast and get some 800 meter repeats in today. I didn't work today, so I headed out around lunch time. I went to the Saucon Rail Trail again, like I did last week. The plan was 6 or 7 repeats with a 400 meter active recovery in between. Shayne invited me to run a track workout with them tomorrow, but I was already prepared for a fast day today. Maybe in the coming weeks I will join them.
Of course I had on shorts and a shirt sleeve shirt. That was perfect. I saw quite a few runners out there today and they were overdressed. I bet a lot of them probably have been indoors all winter. One guy was run/walking shortly before I started. I ended up passing him early on.
I started off at Water Street as usual. I tried to keep the warm up mile very slow. I think sometimes I run that mile too fast. As I often say, I can tell in the warm up how good the run will be. My calves were slightly sore, but overall my legs and body felt strong. I knew it would be a good day. I guess this is what it feels like when you go into a speed session and you aren't overtrained. In the fall, I felt beat up before these type of workouts.
I didn't feel quite as strong at the end of the first mile as I did in the beginning of it, but I was still good and ready to go. I took off hard after that mile. I haven't run in good weather, so I really wasn't sure what to expect in terms of my time. There wasn't really much wind, but I was still breathing in cold air in this direction and that did make it challenging. I was happy to get through the first repeat at a 6:47.
Truthfully, I was hoping that I could be closer to a 6:30 pace throughout the run. Battling some wind and also going slightly uphill on the way out certainly made a difference. I tried to be very slow with my recovery segments, so that I could recover properly. The second fast segment was sure no picnic. I had to push quite a bit and the pace dropped to 6:53. It took a little work to keep it under 7 minutes. I'm still starting each repeat off strong and then fading a bit at the end.
I knew the third repeat would be my last in this direction. Even though I was getting worn down, I knew the other direction would be easier. That would be due to the lack of wind and the fact that I would now be running downhill. The goal of this third repeat was just to survive. I tried to keep it under a 7 minute pace, but that just took too much work. It ended up being a 7:01. A decent repeat, but the first half wasn't as strong as I had hoped. Running hard, but not going to hard and falling off the cliff can be tricky.
Turning around was a huge boost as I expected. At this point, I wasn't sure if I was going to run 6 or 7 repeats, but 6 was looking more likely. I just wanted to be solid in this fourth repeat and then I could gut out two more after that. I started off easy and it seemed like I was flying. Without much effort, I was around a 6 minute pace. I slipped as the repeat wore on, but it was still a speedy 6:45 pace. Not bad considering I left plenty in the tank.
It is truly amazing what I difference a slight downhill can make. The half mile repeats got about 10 seconds faster in this direction. What I also find fascinating is how much faster it seems that each tenth of a mile clicks off on my watch. Even though it is only 10 seconds faster in this direction, it seems much, much faster.The fifth repeat started like the fourth one. It was fast and again slipped a bit. I pushed more on this one than the last one though. That allowed me to come in faster with a 6:37 pace. I was starting to get a bit of a side sticker and my legs were getting sore. I definitely knew I had one more in me.
I wanted to leave it all out there in this last one. I started off with a decent pace, but began to slide. The pace was dipping to near 7 minutes. As I approached the final two tenths, I really hung it out there. I gave it about everything I had. I was fighting hard and managed to run this one at an impressive 6:38 pace.
After some recovery, I thought about trying to start a seventh repeat. I knew I wouldn't have much left though. I also didn't want to have to run another whole mile to cool down afterward. My cool down would now only be .75 miles. I packed it in and called it a day. As I was finishing up easy, I came to a headwind and was glad that I wasn't running hard.
I'm glad I battled through this day. I'm definitely more consistent that I was two weeks ago. Today, I wore a wristband that I made to get me through tough patches. Thankfully, I really didn't need it. The wristband has the date of my surgery last year. I often forget about that and don't think of it when I'm running. I need to use that as a reminder when I want to quit. I've battled and made it through tougher things than a hard workout or a race. I just need to remind myself of that.
One thing I am very happy about is how hungry I am. I have dreaded some runs over the winter just because of the terrible weather. However, I can't remember the last time I didn't want to run. I just enjoy it so much. I never skip days. I do move runs around if I need to, but that is it.
I don't have a set training plan right now and I kind of like it. There's no pressure to do this workout or that one. I do what I feel like doing. I am disciplined enough to challenge myself with this style of schedule. My main thing for the week is to run hard once, run at Trexler once, run a long run and then run with the LVRR group. That doesn't leave time for much else. Usually I am able to throw in another run.
Tomorrow is another running day. I think I'll head out to Trexler for that weekly run. I think the weather is supposed to be nice again. Maybe I can complete the entire loop. Thursday is the LVRR Group Run. I look forward to that.
6 miles - 45:55 (7:39 pace)
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