Saturday 5/24 - Track Workout

Massive confidence building workout today.

My friends have been planning a "Useless Olympics" for a few months now. It is a competition of two person teams in 6 events that by most standards are considered useless skills i.e. mini golf, bowling, darts, etc. The competition is today, and they are taking it seriously. Intimidation videos, matching uniforms, the whole nine yards. It's shaping up to be an all day event, so I had to get my workout in this morning. After my last few workouts on the Charlestown track, the morning was probably a good idea anyway to try to avoid a kids' lacrosse or soccer game on the infield.

I was up by 8am and running by 8:30. It was a great day for a track workout at 55 and overcast with only a mild wind. 2.25 mile warm up to the track at 6:00 pace, and my hopes were confirmed when I got there. No games going on in the infield, and only a few walkers scattered around the track. I did a few warm up exercises and got right into the workout. The plan was 3 x 3200 with full recovery of 5 minutes walking/jogging. I haven't done this workout since my senior year of high school, so I was a bit uncertain on what the pace should be. I thought 5:00 might be a little aggressive but wanted to give it a shot as I was looking to find out exactly where my fitness level was. Per usual, I rocketed out way too fast for the first 400 in 71 seconds but fell into the pace surprisingly quick after that. It felt like a solid effort but didn't feel like I was straining. Came through the first 3200 in 9:59 and felt pretty good. I wasn't winded, and after 2 minutes, I really just wanted to get started on the next repeat. I thought better of it though since I still had 4 miles left. During the 2nd 3200, I started to realize that I would be able to hold the goal pace for all 3 repeats. I went out in 73 seconds and dropped into the pace of 75 seconds per lap which I held perfectly for the next 7 laps to split 9:58 for the 2nd 3200. I could feel myself pick up the effort during the last 2 laps of the 2nd repeat, but I still felt really good. For the last 3200, I kept the pace even from the beginning but started to dip over the goal pace during laps 5, 6, and 7 as I rattled off 76s. I was only 3 seconds back though, and the negative splits I had going over the first 2 repeats motivated me to push the final lap. Finished up with a 9:57.

After not quite meeting my expectations during the first 3 speed workouts of the year, it felt really good to not only hit my marks but also negative split the workout with 9:59, 9:58, 9:57. This was a big time confidence boost. I still have work to do as I progress through my training, but I think I'll be ready to start racing soon. Enjoyed the 2.25 mile cool down at 7:15 pace with a grin on my face. 10.5 miles on the day.