First Full Workout

Good news, race day is coming up on April the 20th. Yes I know, I have a little over a month to sharpen up a little bit, but thats all I need right now. Besides, my number one goal is to have fun and get experience and my time will come later. But hey, it won't hurt to get some intervals in. This is why today was a great day. I had my first full workout since my injury!

4-5x400m @ 64-66 (1500m target pace) with 1:30-2:00 recovery
It was raining right before I headed out but thankfully it cleared up cause workouts in the rain aren't fun. I ended up measuring out 400m at the intramural soccer fields on campus and it ended up being a perfect location. Its nice and flat with no ditches or puddles of water. Usually I go to the sportsplex off campus but being that I stressed my foot there last time, I feel more comfortable running somewhere else for now, haha.

As for the workout, it went well. I warmed up for 20 minutes ~3 miles and then did drills and strides. I spiked up right before I did the strides. It always feels great to spike up, especially after not doing so for a while. When you put them on, you know its go time. Plus, the soggy wet soccer field would be slippery and terrible to go fast on with my trainers so it was a perfect opportunity to rock out my old XC spikes :D. The first 400 I went out and told myself I would try and feel out my targeted pace. It felt slow in the end and it was. I ended up running a 68, but I'm glad the first one was slower because then I knew exactly how much to speed up. The next 4 came like clock work hitting 64 on all of them. It wasn't "easy", but it feel great to get that turn over in. I felt fluid and strong. This is the reason I love doing intervals more than tempo runs. I feel like I can really open up my stride, and being 6'2 its pretty big. The 4th 400 was the toughest, I was pretty spent and the lactic acid was starting to sit in, but hey, running is all about pushing through the pain. You gotta accept the pain, embrace it, and just work through it. I don't remember if I had ever yelled to psych myself up between intervals but I did today, and it definitely helped. Thankfully nobody was there, if there was I probably would have scared them way.

I learned something new today though, at least about myself. When I am at my most tired state during repeats, if I can just go out and hit the first half on pace staying** relaxed** and controlled, I'll be good for the second half. Its all mental really. Doing fast intervals is all about staying relaxed and composed, once you start to get weak and lazy with your form, it will be hard to keep up with the pace.

I was very satisfied today overall though. Even with the slower first interval I know I got a good one in. Taking into account that I ran it in the wet grass, even though I had spikes which helped, I know I would have gone faster on a track. And that is a good feeling.