Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Pimp My Ride

AM: 66min :: 10M
PM : 8 x 800m (2:22 avg/2:18 last); 2:00 rec; 3M wm/4M cd :: 11M

Tonight's workout could not have revealed my current state of fitness anymore plainly. Initially my plan was to start out with 2:24s and hopefully work my way down to 2:20. However, since the last couple of workouts have gone so well, my expectations were that I would run faster than the plan I had set.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I struggled through a 2:23 on the first one. Everything felt out of whack, I wasn't comfortable on the corners of the indoor track, and it was hard to imagine running seven more at that pace. Number two (2:23) was only slightly better, but then, strangely, on the third (2:22) interval everything seemed to click. I started to notice something interesting as the workout went on. I would start out each interval feeling strong. About midway through lap 2 things would get a little tougher but I kept the same rhythm. Lap 3 would be about 1/2 second slower and the pace would really start to feel tough. The last go-round I would have to concentrate on maintaining my form and (gasp!) actually have to force myself to pick up the pace. I would finish pretty gassed, but as I jogged the rest interval I recovered quickly. By the time the next interval rolled around I was completely rested. The remaining intervals (2:22, 2:23, 2:22, 2:20, 2:18) all followed the same format.

So it is obvious that my top end isn't very high at the moment, but I'm working off a huge base that allows my to recovery quickly between hard efforts. To use the car analogy, I have a really big gas tank, but I have to start adding more cylinders to the engine.

LINK
Joggers speak out
Teg talks

3 comments:

Evan Roberts said...

Do you do those in the inside lane? Do you think it slows you down much. At my pedestrian paces I feel like the inside lane slows me down nearly a second every 200m compared with the outside lane.

Theoretically all one needs to do to use the outside lane for longer repeats is measure the lane width and then use this calculator. But I always forget my tape measure.

Patrick said...

Thanks for the link Evan. Very cool calculator. I'll definitely think about moving out a couple lanes, if the crowd on the track allows.

Eric said...

Evan, where do you come up with this stuff!? I'm starting to think you know everything. :)

Nice workout, Patrick.