Down Ladder at the JCSU Track

Goal:
2000m, 1600m, 1200m, 800m, 400m w/ 400m rest

Actual:
2.5 mile warmup to JCSU
2000m (5:45 through mile), 1600m (5:29), 1200m (4:01 - all in 80), 800m (2:36 - 78/78), 400m (70), 400m (72) w/ 400m jog rest
2.5 mile cool down for ~10 Miles total

pm: 5 miles for 15 miles total for day

The 5:10AM alarm this morning was much easier to wake up to, knowing that Laurie was coming to my house for the warmup.  Given that there was basically no way out of this workout without dramatically affecting Laurie's workout, I hopped out of bed immediately to begin my preparations.  Somehow I had extra time to spare and I found myself sweeping the floor before heading out the door.  The warmup was uneventful, and we made it to the track where we found AJ waiting for us.  Not long thereafter, Aaron, Jesse, Charlie and Mike all showed up and the two separate groups began their respective workouts. 

Laurie and I were solo, so we alternated leads for each interval, and I was up first for the 2000m.  I took us out entirely too slow (93) and found myself making up for it on the remaining laps.  In the end, we came through in our target pace of 5:45.  For the mile, Laurie lead us through a solid time of 5:29 and I felt like my breathing was out of whack.  I didn't want the workout to be doomed due to my labored breathing, so I accounted it to the humidity and not my lack of fitness.  Fortunately, for the remainder of the workout, I felt comfortable and confident and....fast!  After the first 9 laps of works were completed, the workout was much easier to handle as we only had 6 laps left.  Since the boys had 400s, we waited for them for our last interval, and I tucked right in with Mike and took us out at what I would consider a blistering pace of 70.  In my Nike Pegasus trainers, that was basically all out for me, but it felt almost effortless.  I would actually consider it fun, which is an adjective I thought I'd never use in the near future to describe a track workout. Since I'm an overachiever, I decided to add on another 400m since the guys had one more to go.  Although this went against the prescribed workout, I didn't want to pass up another opportunity to potentially beat the guys.  This "una mas" interval wasn't as fast as my other one, but the effort was still there.

Overall, this workout is a positive indicator that my fitness is indeed where I want it to be.  I felt relaxed and maintained what I consider to be some solid times.  Admittedly, though, I am looking forward to a long weekend in California with my sister where I don't have to get up at 5:00AM

Wave Tempo

Goal:
10 Mile Wave in 5:55/6:25

Actual:
2.3 mile warmup
10 Mile Wave in 5:55/6:45
2 mile cool down for 14.3 miles total
2:58/3:00 (5:58)
3:23/3:20 (6:43)
2:56/2:57 (5:53)
3:30/3:30 (7:00)
3:03/2:59 (6:02)
3:20/3:16 (6:36)
2:55/2:59 (5:54)
3:24/3:20 (6:44)
2:56/3:00 (5:56)
3:40/3:20 (7:00)

Aaron had a similar workout to what Mark had on my schedule, so I decided to go down to his neck of the woods and run with him at McMullen in the morning.  While my confidence is still coming back, I really practiced going into this workout with some positive energy and trust that I could accomplish a solid effort of work for 10 miles.  Fortunately, my mental planning paid off because I was able to hit a pretty decent wave workout. Contrast this to two weeks ago, when I set out to do a 10 mile tempo and really just ended up running a 5 mile tempo at slower than my goal marathon pace.  Figures how a 20 degree drop in temperature and 14 days of iron supplementation can really come through.  While I do feel like my iron is probably coming back to a fairly normal level, I still don't know for sure and my times still aren't reflecting that I'm 100% better.  Typically for this type of workout, my "slower" portion would be between 6:20-6:30 and I was a bit off of that today.  However, I am excited by my faster splits because this was the first time that I've run 6:00 pace and had it feel easy.  In fact, for the very first interval, I thought that maybe we were too slow, but we came through right on pace for 6:00.  Despite the small improvement, it's enough to keep me smiling.  Looking forward to my next workout 3x2 mile later this week.

Tempo Success!

Goal:
10 Mile Tempo at 600-605

Actual:
3 miles warmup
8 miles at 6:32 average (fastest split was only 6:20)
2 miles cool down at 7:00 pace

pm:  4.5 miles for 17.5 miles total for day

I could choose to look at this workout as a fail, but I chose to look at it as a success.  I didn't give up and I did what I could with what I've got.  And what I've got is low iron and an annoying hamstring.  Fortunately yesterday, Dr. Greenapple was kind enough to spend over an hour with me, performing ART, cupping, acupuncture and finally kinesio tape.  I know that the treatment will start working it magic in a couple of days, not overnight.  So, regardless, my hamstring was still a little tight and tired from general overuse combined with strength exercises from the night before by the time I met up with Aaron at McMullen.

Aaron's legs were tired from a couple of back-to-back high mileage weeks, so he was okay with whatever I had in the tank.  We ran through the perfectly flat trail at McMullen, not really looking at splits and still keeping up some semblance of a conversation.  I could still talk, but my legs felt like glue.  Sure, it was fabulous and I didn't hit my goal times, but I cranked through.  Right now, finding the motivation to complete a workout is tough since I know the time will be slower, but if I just get in the effort, everything will fall into place in a couple of weeks. I left this workout trusting that I got in a good effort (can 6:20 on low ferritin equate to 5:55 with normal ferritin?  I think so)

After 8 miles of work, we slowed it down a bit to cool down and both of us were equally happy to be done with the up tempo portion. Some days are meant to feel harder than others and today was definitely like that, but I still came out of it feeling really positive about how I approached the workout and how I got in some uptempo work!

5 Mile Tempo

Goal:
5 Mile tempo in 5:50-5:55

Actual:
3.3 mile warmup
5 mile tempo in 6:02 pace (6:18, 6:03, 5:58, 5:56, 5:54)
2 mile cool down for 10+ miles total

45 minutes of dance lesson

Today was muggy.  Real muggy.  Considering the fact that I wanted to drop out of this tempo after two miles, I would say that this was an accomplishment because I ran the entire workout.  Fortunately, the company of Spada, Caleb and Aaron helped tremendously and was 100% of the reason why I did not drop out.  In fact, Spada and Caleb pulled away after 1.5 miles and I just hung onto Aaron as best I could.  The first mile went out to so freaking slow because no one else was willing to help me with the pace and my efforts to push it weren't getting us anywhere any faster.  At one point, while Aaron was talking excitedly, Spada said matter-of-factly: "Aaron.  Is Caitlin talking?  She's working.  She's give you one line responses."  And Aaron shut right up.  Not that I mind listening to Aaron.  In fact, I kind of like his uncanny ability to keep a workout lively.  After that, Aaron just kept me company by being my trusty sidekick.  I thought of how the tables had turned.  Last time I worked out with Aaron, I felt awesome and was the motivation that kept him going until the end.  This time, I was the one hurting massively.  I think that I ran a faster five mile split in the last bit of that 14-mile steady state I did.  Oh well, workouts are all relative.  Today wasn't the greatest, it was muggy, and my legs were tired.  I'm hoping the pep will return for the mile repeats workout I've got set for Friday.