One Down, One to Go

Today was the 10 x 300m session.  When I compared it to last week's 12 x 200m session on paper - I figured I was in for a rough day.  Each rep here was obviously 50% longer, but the target pace was almost the same.  (33-sec average for the 200m session last week, 51-sec average today (34-sec 200m pace))  Also, the rests were actually going to shrink from 80-seconds to 60-seconds.  And on top of that - last week I got an extra 90-seconds of rest after every 4th rep (3-sets of 4) and here there were no sets - 10 x 300m w/ 1-min breaks - period.  Longer reps w/ shorter rests at about the same pace. . . . . no picnic for sure.

The way JT described the workout was like this.  "You'll get into a rhythm after the first few.  After about the 6th one you'll start to get a feeling of overall fatigue but you'll still be able to hit the same paces.  After about the 8th one, you'll feel like you can't do any more, but you can."

I wanted to make sure I ran the first few slower to ease into it and then pick it up if I felt I could.  Target was to start about 54 and ramp down to 48 if possible, but JT said if I needed to stay in the 52-54 range the whole way that was fine.

Unfortunately I had the Garmin on the wrong page when I started the first rep so when I looked down to see my 100m split to see what my pace was, it wasn't there.  Rather than screwing around w/ the watch during a repeat, I figured I'd just fix it afterwards.  First rep - 49 seconds. Damn, gonna pay for that later.

I fixed the stupid watch, made the adjustment and hit the next two in 52-52.  At this point I felt like I was going to be OK.  Surprisingly after a slow jog back to the start I was ready to take off each time w/ no issue.  Next four reps were 51-51-50-50.  I really had a groove going now.  I even received some applause from part of the community college track team that was running a workout.  (200m repeats at slightly slower than my pace w/ MUCH longer rests)  I think I'm viewed as the resident "old guy" who is still somehow able to run a little bit.  

Now I was through 7 reps and was feeling tired.  By this time the 1-minute slow jogs didn't seem long enough.  I struggled on #8 finishing in 53 - but pulled it together, realized I needed to up the effort a bit, and hit the last two in 52 and 50.

Overall the average was 51 (34-second 200m pace) and truth be told it wasn't that bad.  Of course the real measure is what do I feel like tomorrow?  Achilles, quad, etc.  Saturday is looming and I'm going to need to be 100% to have a shot at that one.  Two easy days coming up before the Saturday torture session.

Training:

Mon, 12/1:  Lifting (upper-B, abs)  stretching rolling.  

Tues, 12/2:  5-miles easy

Wed, 12/3:  4-miles including 10 x 300m (1-min rests) at average pace of 51-seconds (4:33 mile pace)