Posts Tagged ‘speedwork’

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.

A Mass o’ Yassos

First, I have to note that many of my fellow bloggers seem to have hit the summer doldrums. Here are a few of the blog post titles that greeted me today:

Insult to Injury

Mindf*ck

Ouch

A Giant Sack of Crap

Feet of Fleeting Frustration

Not all of these turned out to be as bad as the headlines would indicate, but come on, people! Cheer up!

This week’s Carnival of Running melted away with the rest of my hard drive, so the carnival will return next Wednesday. In the meantime, you can enjoy my training progress (because I know you’re dying to know): 16-miler last Sunday, three 8-mile tempo runs 15 seconds per mile above goal pace, and this morning’s speedwork:

Intervals: 8 x 800 meters
Goal pace: sub-3:36
Lap 1: 3:26.55
Lap 2: 3:21.41
Lap 3: 3:23.43
Lap 4: 3:23.97
Lap 5: 3:28.91
Lap 6: 3:25.53
Lap 7: 3:26.87
Lap 8: 3:26.11
Average: 3:25.35
Total distance: 7 miles

Now back to computer file reconstruction.

Lucky 7

Continued my progression of Yasso 800s yesterday, this time shooting for 7 x 800 at sub 3:36 pace. Here’s how it went:

Intervals: 7 x 800 meters
Goal pace: sub-3:36
Lap 1: 3:22.36

Last week my first interval was nearly a big red fail, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t cut it so close. While it was gratifying to go at that speed, I was already worried about how I was going to do six more.

Lap 2: 3:22.58

Uh, I thought I had slowed down, but no. Now I’m really worried.

Lap 3: 3:22.25

This is where I check to make sure my watch is working. I realize I don’t know how to slow down 13 seconds over 800 meters. What does that even feel like?

Lap 4: 3:29.64
Lap 5: 3:26.54
Lap 6: 3:28.87
Lap 7: 3:27.39
Average: 3:25.66
Total distance: 6.25 miles

Hooray for me! I could have squeezed an 8th one in but decided to stick with the plan. With luck, by the end of next month I’ll successfully complete 10 x 800 at goal pace, then I’ll graduate to mile repeats for the rest of the schedule.

The one downside is I couldn’t face an 8-miler in the heat today, so I settled for a recovery run of 4 miles. Tomorrow’s Croissant Day!

Stepping Up After Stepping Down

Last week was a step-down week. I always have trouble judging my performance. Because it’s fewer miles should I run them harder? Or should I take advantage of the lower mileage and take it easy for the trials to come? I end up doing something about halfway in-between.

Anyway, my speedwork was probably the highlight of the week:

Intervals: 8 x 400 meters
Goal pace: sub-1:40
Lap 1: 1:38.76
Lap 2: 1:37.57
Lap 3: 1:35.89
Lap 4: 1:36.75
Lap 5: 1:37.27
Lap 6: 1:36.99
Lap 7: 1:36.79
Lap 8: 1:35.16
Average: 1:36.90
Total distance: 5 miles

Followed that up with five-mile tempo runs on Thursday and Saturday at 8:30 pace, and then a 10-miler yesterday at an average 8:47 pace, with the last three miles in 25 minutes.

Now begins the meat of my training – a 46-mile week culminating in a 16-miler on Sunday. Yee-hah!

Six Appeal

First, an apology. I’m a little swamped this week so the Carnival of Running will appear tomorrow. Instead you get yet another report of my Yasso 800 awesomeness. Having churned out successful 4 x 800s and 5 x 800s the last two weeks, it was time to go for – what else? – 6 x 800s. Here are the results:

Intervals: 6 x 800 meters
Goal pace: sub-3:36
Lap 1: 3:35.67
Lap 2: 3:25.59
Lap 3: 3:22.78
Lap 4: 3:26.23
Lap 5: 3:28.69
Lap 6: 3:28.07
Average: 3:27.84
Total distance: 6 miles

Yes, I nearly blew it on the very first interval, but once again I emerge without a big red FAIL. Next week is a step-down week, so I’ll probably do 8 x 400s before resuming my Yassos the following week.

5 x 800s Are Five by Five

Speedwork went well this week under cooler temperatures in Sacramento. I had to dodge a soccer team doing laps a few times, but things could hardly have gone better.

Intervals: 5 x 800 meters
Goal pace: sub-3:36
Lap 1: 3:29.00
Lap 2: 3:25.50
Lap 3: 3:27.37
Lap 4: 3:34.13
Lap 5: 3:31.25
Average: 3:29.45
Total distance: 5 miles

No red fails for the second consecutive week, so I’ll have to keep adding a repeat until I get one. Next Wednesday it’ll be 6 x 800.

Today I did a seven-mile tempo run at 8:39 average pace. I eventually have to bring that down about 30-35 seconds, but I’m making good progress.

Yasso Surpasso (Barely)

I’m about 21 weeks away from my marathon, so I have the luxury of increasing mileage gradually. I did a 12-miler last Sunday and will do another this Sunday before bumping up to 14 in a week.

In the meantime I went out in the heat for my Yasso 800s yesterday with, as always, a target of sub 3:36. There was a large PE class using the track for laps, so I had to run in in lane 4 the entire way around, but that’s the way things go.

Intervals: 4 x 800 meters
Goal pace: sub-3:36
Lap 1: 3:35.25
Lap 2: 3:35.62
Lap 3: 3:29.86
Lap 4: 3:34.86
Average: 3:33.90
Total distance: 4 miles

Ha-ha! Talk about skating in on the razor’s edge. But no big red fails. Next week I’ll try 5 x 800 and see if I can squeeze another sub 3:36 in.

Today I did a six-mile tempo run at 8:30 pace. Things are looking up.