When Coach Holly emailed us this week's workout my brain apparently couldn't take it. I thought we were going 3 or 4 400s really fast. Like, faster than 5K pace. Possibly faster than mile pace. I was all set to bust out some super fast 400s.
When I got to track I realized the workout was actually 3 or 4 800s with 6 minutes of recovery between each.
Gulp.
That's a little different. Really fast 800s? Um, okay.
At least the weather was almost perfect. In the low 60s and drizzly. A little windy but it held off until the last interval.
We did our usual stretches and then 15 minute running warm-up and drills. Then it was time to start going FAST.
I settled into my group and somehow found myself at the front. Uh oh. Sure enough, I got passed during the last 200 meters. Still, I hung in there and managed a good time.
I went out a little slower the second time around and finally seemed to find my groove. I didn't get faster each time, but I ended up running well overall. Take a look:
1st 800 - 3:33Holy even splits, Batman! Sure, my rest intervals got longer as the workout went on, but they were still all between 5:30 and 6:30 so I think that's okay.
2nd 800 - 3:31
3rd 800 - 3:31
4th 800 - 3:31
Also, here's one of the great things about keeping a training log of some sort. I just looked back at my 800 times from last summer. My fastest one was a 3:40something. Major improvement!
We decided that the first half of the second lap always felt the worst. I could definitely feel my butt and my quads getting tired. But that's the point of this workout. Learn to run when all that lactic acid is building up in your muscles. Learn to push through.
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