No Parking on the Race Track
It’s a step-down week, so I headed over to the track for 8 x 400 yesterday. Unfortunately, fall classes started at the college and there wasn’t a parking spot to be had within a mile of campus. Literally. I ended up parking at a strip mall over a mile away and got my warmup dodging traffic and students on my way to the track.
The good news was that the lack of parking meant hardly anyone on the oval. No dodging out to lane 6 to avoid a walker. Here’s how it went:
Intervals: 8 x 400 meters
Goal pace: sub-1:40
Lap 1: 1:36.76
Lap 2: 1:33.04
Lap 3: 1:33.25
Lap 4: 1:32.76
Lap 5: 1:34.08
Lap 6: 1:35.63
Lap 7: 1:34.10
Lap 8: 1:32.32
Average: 1:33.99
Total distance: 5 miles
I wanted to get one under 1:30 but I couldn’t manage it. I’ve got a 5k race tomorrow evening. That’s right – a 6 p.m. race in Sacramento in late August. Forecast temperature: 95 degrees. Not expecting a record pace.
Categories: BQ or Bust Tags: 400 meters, intervals, speedwork, training
Red Fails Never Felt So Successful
Bright and early this morning I went for my first track workout in 27 years. As you might suspect, today was meant for getting my feet wet and establishing a benchmark.
With no real sense of what would be a good pace, I used the Viper model, setting out for a mile warmup, 6 x 400 intervals with 400 meter recoveries, and a mile cooldown. Everything went according to plan except that I still felt good after six intervals, so I did eight instead.
Viper shoots for a minimum of a 6:42 mile pace, but I didn’t want to screw with rounding, so I aimed for anything below 1:41. Anything above is a big red FAIL.
Intervals: 8 x 400 meters
Goal pace: sub 1:41
Lap 1: 1:40.28
Lap 2: 1:42.79 FAIL
Lap 3: 1:47.03 EPIC FAIL
Lap 4: 1:41.49 FAIL
Lap 5: 1:41.90 FAIL
Lap 6: 1:40.27
Lap 7: 1:41.69 FAIL
Lap 8: 1:38.46
Average: 1:41.74
Total distance: 6 miles
After the third interval I realized I was running my recovery laps way too fast. I slowed considerably in-between and the effect was magical. Even with five fails out of eight, it was an extremely positive workout.
I had a lot of fun. My only adjustment will be to move my track workout to Wednesdays, as I’m pretty sure doing intervals the day before my long run will make both suffer.
As I get used to this, I’ll progress first by shortening the recoveries, then by going to 800s. Right on track.
Categories: BQ or Bust Tags: 400 meters, intervals, speedwork, track, training
