Dustin' Off the Track Spikes

I was supposed to do some speed work on Tuesday, however the mild issues w/ the hip and quad caused us to call an audible and do a volume speed session instead.  (400s @ 68)

There are still a few sore spots here and there, so I needed to be careful, but I was feeling good enough to do my first real speed work of the season.  Today's workout was a few 400s at a quick pace w/ near full recoveries.  JT being as clever as she is, decided to 'extend' my warm up just a tad to make sure I wouldn't be able to really go out and hit it on the 400s.  What we didn't want to have happen was me overdoing it on the 4's and potentially straining a muscle somewhere, so the idea was to pre-fatigue the legs to keep this from happening.  This warm up 'extension' came in the form of a 5:15 mile that I was to do prior to the quarters.  "Yeah", I said, "that ought to do the trick".

The target for the session was as follows:

Mile warm up

2 x 200m

Mile @ 5:15

7-minute rest

3 x 400m @ 62-63 w/ near full recoveries (about 7-minutes)

**  I was to switch over from the flats to the spikes for the last two 400s

I nearly nailed the session.  Once again I didn't bother to time the 200s.  Just ramped the pace up - went at speed for about 100m and then ramped it back down.  I was a little lax early on w/ the mile (2:38 first half), but I closed w/ a 2:36 to come in at 5:14.  Clearly this was a little tougher than my usual warm up - let's not turn this into the standard deal, shall we!?

The first 400m came in at 62.3  I then switched over to my spikes for the first time in, well, way too long.  Ah the feeling of being back in spikes - you feel like a duck when walking in them, but boy they're nice to have when moving around an all-weather oval - 400 #2:  61.1  

After #2 I think the adrenaline was wearing off as I started to feel some of the soreness from before.  In addition, my legs were already getting tired.  (this should improve drastically after a few legit speed sessions)  I knew I had just run my fastest 400 for today, and all I wanted out of #3 was to go under 63.  The session was going pretty well, and if I could just hit a 62.x w/ all the work I'd put in thus far, I'd feel like it would be an excellent opening speed session.

After the first 200 I knew I was a little slow, but I was surprised to see that it was almost 32.  "Yikes, this is a problem I need to pick it up".  I was happy in that I did negative split this last guy, but I came in just over the wire in 63.1 - oh well, motivation for next time.  

Overall, a good session.  I got to experience some faster paces again in something longer than a 200m for the first time in a long time.  I also got back into the spikes which is always nice.  Lastly, I walked off the track no worse off physically than I walked on.  I think I've got about a week for the rest of this soreness to subside and then I should be back to 100%.  

Good luck to Rick in London tomorrow!!

Training:

Wed, 4/22:  Appointment w/ CMT - no running

Thurs, 4/23:  5-miles @ 7:02 (sore)

AM  Lifting (upper-B, abs) stretching, rolling

Fri, 4/24:  5-miles @ 6:53 (feeling a little better)

AM Lifting (upper-A, abs) stretching, rolling

Sat, 4/25:  3 x 400m 62-23, after standard w/u plus 5:15 mile to pre-fatigue the legs.

2x200m - untimed, Mile-5:14, 400s (62.3, 61.1, 63.1)