I headed over to the track on Tuesday to get in a few threshold miles. The plan was 3 x 1-mile w/ 90-second rests. I was looking to hit progressively faster times of 5:44 - 5:40 - 5:36.
I haven't done much threshold work lately, and what I have done has been limited to 1000m repeats. Combine that w/ my lack of motivation/concentration that is clearly from having busted my butt only to miss the entire winter season and now having many months until the next season, and it wasn't as good a day as it should have been. (although there were some positives)
First mile came in at 5:41, a few seconds faster than planned. Next mile didn't feel all that challenging and I came in at a surprising 5:35. So far so good. On the last mile, I started out a little quick w/ a 78 second first lap, and as is supposed to be the case if you're doing this workout properly - the last 1000m was going to be a little harder than the rest of the workout. Unfortunately, I was simply not mentally up for doing it. I hit the 2nd lap OK, and then half of lap #3 (1000m total) and then just decided to bail early. Why? I guess because my motivation is just low right now. Was it harder than the first 2-miles, sure - it's supposed to be. Was my time slow? No - I was on 5:32 pace. Was my HR off the charts? No - only 1 or 2 ticks higher than the previous rep.
What happened was it started to get a little harder, and I just didn't feel like pushing thru. Too bad really, because I'd have easily finished in no worse than 5:35 for sure and I'd have then classified this as a pretty solid workout. The positive? Even though I'm still behind where I was on my fitness, I was still able to hit a 5:37 average pace w/ just the 90-second rests and the HR never went above 170. Physically, I'm OK. (not quite as fit as I was, but OK) Unfortunately, I'm not where I need to be mentally in regards to focus and motivation. I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I think it's probably natural to have a bit of a let down when you bust your ass and have nothing to show for it (i.e. I didn't even get to attempt a single 800m race)
But F-it. That's over. Time to get it going again. I just have to put that disappointment behind me and go forward. All you can do really.
Later in the day I went to the gym and hit my heavy leg workout. Today I just ran an easy 5-miler, which was tough because I was a little sore from the lifting. I've got another threshold session late this week. I'm not sure what the workout's going to be yet - maybe 2km repeats, but whatever it is, I need to make sure I'm mentally ready to go and ready to push through when it starts to get hard.
Training:
Tue, 2/24: 5-miles including 2 x 1-mile plus 1000m (should have been 3 x 1-mile) 5:41-5:35-3:27
PM - leg lifting (squats, presses, extensions, hip flexors, adductors, abductors, abs, calves)
Wed, 2/25: 5-miles @ 6:58
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