Ahh, Speedwork Again
For various reasons I've done only one speedwork session in the past five or six weeks. I'm not happy about that because I think it's just as important to marathon training (at least time-goal marathon training) as it is for the shorter stuff. But with marathon taper and recovery it's understandable why I've been missing them. So, I made my way out for speedwork tonight.
I didn't go to the track because I wasn't able to get free to run until 8:30 PM, so naturally it was dark, and the nearest track has no lighting and a rough surface. I didn't want a twisted ankle. So I headed over to my old subdivision for an old favorite - intervals on the .4 mile oval block that I used to live on. Let me tell ya - if you didn't run tonight, you missed perfect running conditions, at least for a 40 minute workout. The temperature was upper 50s, the humidity was low, and there was zero wind. Not one weather feature compromised what I wanted to do. It was one of those rare times where you were limited only by what your heart and lungs would allow you to do.
So I took advantage of it and cranked out six fast ovals, with a mixed walking/jogging recovery of .2 miles between. Add in my warmup and cool-down milage and it was six miles tonight. Here are my .4 mile times:
2:16, 2:09, 2:13, 2:12, 2:11, 2:07
Those times aren't quite in the same league with the kind of times I turn when I'm really focused on speed and doing twice-weekly speed sessions, but given that I've not been even been doing one speed workout a week lately, and given that I'm still only 11 days out from my Dallas marathon, I'll take them all day long.
I didn't go to the track because I wasn't able to get free to run until 8:30 PM, so naturally it was dark, and the nearest track has no lighting and a rough surface. I didn't want a twisted ankle. So I headed over to my old subdivision for an old favorite - intervals on the .4 mile oval block that I used to live on. Let me tell ya - if you didn't run tonight, you missed perfect running conditions, at least for a 40 minute workout. The temperature was upper 50s, the humidity was low, and there was zero wind. Not one weather feature compromised what I wanted to do. It was one of those rare times where you were limited only by what your heart and lungs would allow you to do.
So I took advantage of it and cranked out six fast ovals, with a mixed walking/jogging recovery of .2 miles between. Add in my warmup and cool-down milage and it was six miles tonight. Here are my .4 mile times:
2:16, 2:09, 2:13, 2:12, 2:11, 2:07
Those times aren't quite in the same league with the kind of times I turn when I'm really focused on speed and doing twice-weekly speed sessions, but given that I've not been even been doing one speed workout a week lately, and given that I'm still only 11 days out from my Dallas marathon, I'll take them all day long.
posted by Lance Collins at 8:14 PM
1 Comments:
Lance,
Just reading your blog to get pumped for another great weekend of running!! I am also flipping through some of my favorite bits in Jack Daniels' book, and you might be interested in "Training the Mind" on pages 144-145. At the Striders meeting he called "focusing on the task at hand" as his 5th element of success. In light of your recent posts and intensity you bring to your running, you have definitely highlighted the importance of this element of success...a shame that Jack only has a page devoted to the topic. But given how much he talked about it at the meeting, I suspect his 3rd edition will be a little more bulky in this area!
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