Thursday, July 17, 2014

Quarter Mile Repeats and Easy Run

Yesterday was a nice and cool day.  Today, it was more of the same.  Even though it won't help me for the marathon next week, I wanted to do some fast running today.  I decided on a track workout. 

Last week, I ran 4 X 1/4 mile repeats on pavement with Tom, Flo and Erin.  Since that went well and I'm tapering now, I decided to add a 5th one.  This time though, I headed to the Nazareth High School track.

Even though it was cool, I went shirtless.  I figured I wouldn't sweat too much, so I wore grey shorts too.  That was a mistake as they started to soak through by the end.

I opened with about 4 laps around, for a mile.  It's kind of like the legs were ready to go, because without pushing it, I ran a 7 minute flat opening mile.  There were some hoses on the inside lanes, so I had to go out and around them a little.

After the warmup, I took a brief drink and used my towel.  I decided to run in lane 2.  That would be close to .25 miles each lap.  I opened up trying to be smooth and consistent.  This is definitely a pace that I'm not used to.  I was breathing heavy, but felt pretty good.  The first repeat was run at 1:12.65 (4:50 pace).

I always stopped the repeats at .25 miles.  For the recovery portions of the run, I'd just run back to the starting line.  I ran generally 1/4 more for each recovery too.  I wasn't trying to kill myself.  Even by the time I got done with the recovery segment, I was still breathing heavy.  Last week, we walked to recover.  This week, I wanted an active recovery.

I was on to the second repeat before I knew it.  Again, I felt good and in control.  I was cruising.  I finished this one at 1:11.69 (4:46 pace).  The third one was another consistent 1:11.70 (4:47 pace).  I felt like my legs were starting to slip about halfway through this one.

I recovered again and was back at it for round four.  Running on the track was definitely better, as my legs were as sore as last week.  My calves really bothered me that time.  The fourth repeat was run at 1:12.45 (4:49 pace).  This one was getting tough toward the end, but I battled through.

Last week, I really fell off on the last one.  This time, I struggled a little bit early on and had to really push myself at the end.  However, I remained consistent.  The fifth and final one was a 1:12.66 (4:49 pace).

This was an outstanding workout.  I was blown away by my consistency.  Every repeat was within less than a second of each other.  That is amazing.  Really, I was thinking I would run easier than last week and run more like a 5:30 pace.  I was impressed that every one was a 4:50 pace or better.  That's so much faster than I'm used to and I hope it helps.

I was at around 3.5 miles when I ended the hard running.  I decided that I would run about a 1.5 mile cooldown.  As I was ending the main workout and starting this part, a cute young lady started to run.  She ended up doing her warmup for like a mile while I cooled down.  I assumed that I'd catch her.  I wasn't gaining ground though.  Then, it dawned on me that although I slowed down, I was still running a fast pace.  I looked down and realized that I was running under a 7 minute pace.  She was moving too.

The young lady was doing sprints and I thought she looked familiar.  Then, she tried to remove some hurdles, but they were locked up.  I knew it was a girl that ran track and graduated a few years ago.  She was very fast and actually made it to states in the hurdles.  As I was leaving, I introduced myself while she was resting.  I usually don't approach people in situations like this.  I guess I'm getting better at that.

This first run was so fast, that it would've been a 5 mile PR (even with a slow start and finish).  After the good run in the afternoon, I decided on a short evening run.  I planned for just 4 easy miles.  I figured with the cool weather and my legs sharp, it might be kind of fast.  I actually wore a sleeveless shirt this time around.

I decided that I'd run around the school parking lot by my house.  I did about 2 loops there initially.  Then, I got bored.  I was over a mile into the run.  The first mile was a 7:59.  That was pretty speedy.

I headed over to the neighborhood on the other side of the school.  I decided that I'd loop around the circle there.  I ended up continuing on, up the slight uphill.  I was going to go to a certain mailbox, but I got distracted by some birds.  I just ran to the first street and turned around.  I was at 1.8 miles.

I was going downhill, now that I turned around.  I ran mile 2 at 7:36.  I got back to the school in no time.  It was very active there.  A kid was playing with her family.  A woman was riding her bike and two others were walking.  I looped around the parking lot again. 

I think my GPS was off.  Mile 3 ended up being a 6:44.  Maybe I was moving a little faster, but it didn't seem like that much.  I was breathing a bit while chewing gum.

I went in my neighborhood for the last mile.  I was cruising along.  My overall pace really dropped some more.  Again, I think my GPS might have been screwed up.  I ended right by my house.  I was probably about 1/10 of a mile short.  Either way, my watch said I ran a 6:24 last mile.

This was a nice short workout after an outstanding first one.  I can't wait for cooler weather.  I will nail more of these fast workouts.  I need more hard running to really improve my speed.  My endurance is great, but I'm still letting my speed drag behind.  I can improve a lot with some faster stuff.

I only have 8 miles left to run in the next two days.  I think I'll run 4 miles each day.  That will get me to 40 miles for the week.  I'm taking it easy and finally feeling pretty good now.  Hopefully, it will carry over into next week.  If only I could get some good weather for my marathon.  That would be nice.  I'm not hopeful though.

Afternoon Track Workout 5 miles - 31:39 (6:20 pace)
Evening Run 4 miles - 28:43 (7:11 pace)

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