Wiggy suggested 4-5 x 2k, and that sounded like a good interval to me. He also said 5:10 pace, a pace I had matched or broken twice since August. So, I knew I could run a mile that fast, I just had to do an extra lap. Then do it three more times.
I switched from the Puma flats I had been wearing to my old adiZeros, the shoes that had run 14:57 their first time out of the box. They instantly felt a lot better and I was glad I switched back. We started out slowly on the first one, 78, but recovered with a 7 and two 76s for 6:27. Not bad. Then we got a little out of hand the next one, splitting 5:05 for the mile and 6:21 for 2k, but I still felt strong and able to keep doing it.The third one went smoothly in 6:26, and the fourth one was the same, but the middle was filled with a struggle over self doubt and insecurity.
Was I actually in shape to finish this workout? There were some stretches where my breathing seemed to tighten my stomach, but my body never burned from the effort, neither my legs nor lungs. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't difficult. In the end, it was just the way a workout is supposed to be. The repetition of such a fast pace desensitized me to to fear of running 5:10 pace and blowing up. Admittedly, in the last 2k I worried that my collapse was inevitable, and when Joe, Dave and Dirk picked it up in the last 500 I figured that time had come, but I just kept running and hit my pace exactly.
With this newfound confidence in my relative speed, I am heading to the Shamrock 8k Sunday morning downtown. The course isn't great- four 180-degree turns, but it will be flat and a chance to get used to racing again before I go to Richmond in two weeks for the Monument Ave 10k.
Was I actually in shape to finish this workout? There were some stretches where my breathing seemed to tighten my stomach, but my body never burned from the effort, neither my legs nor lungs. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't difficult. In the end, it was just the way a workout is supposed to be. The repetition of such a fast pace desensitized me to to fear of running 5:10 pace and blowing up. Admittedly, in the last 2k I worried that my collapse was inevitable, and when Joe, Dave and Dirk picked it up in the last 500 I figured that time had come, but I just kept running and hit my pace exactly.
With this newfound confidence in my relative speed, I am heading to the Shamrock 8k Sunday morning downtown. The course isn't great- four 180-degree turns, but it will be flat and a chance to get used to racing again before I go to Richmond in two weeks for the Monument Ave 10k.
Despite those 180 deg turns, the course is traditionally fast.
ReplyDeleteWay to finish strong.
ReplyDelete