Six Feet Under

I asked Greg to bury me.

I woke up pretty sore this morning in my arms and chest from lifting yesterday. I was unable to lift much; we did the routine that we were originally doing last year when I started and I hadn't done it since November 7. It wasn't pretty. But I woke up to an alarm at 7am and ate some peanut butter & bread and sat around ready to go.

Justin, Scott, Pat and I started warming up a little after 8am. It was in the low 50s, 16mph winds. I was cold. I had on gloves and a long sleeve and it was chilly. When we were out of the wind, though, I could feel the heat. I was also wearing all black, so that might have helped. The warmup was faster than the normal morning warmups are, but that's because Pat was there. When we started running under 7 minute pace on the shell trail, I dropped back with Jack, who had gotten there late and warmed up on his own for the most part.

Justin was anxious to get going since he was leaving at 9, so he did an 800 while Greg climbed the fence to join us on the Mary Washington track. There was a lot of traffic coming in and out of the area, so I thought we may have some problems with being there. Greg was prepared to point at the All-American board and claim 14 of them as his right to be there, so I didn't care too much.

The point of the workout, according to Greg, was to teach me pace. So I was going to do a 5k worth of 200s at race pace, with a 100 jog in between. So 25 200s, 4.68 miles. I was supposed to go 18, 37. I took off the GPS and just went with the regular stop watch. GPS is stupid for track work anyway. The lines are painted on the ground for a reason. I'll wear it in the dark morning workouts just so I don't lose it. Greg wrote down my splits, and I don't remember most of them. I wore trainers for the first 1/3 or so. I started out too fast. #1 was 15, 34. #2-3 were 35. I threw in some 36s and 37s before I hit a 38. For a while I'd forgotten what my goal pace was. I thought that the 37s were too fast until I did the 38 and realized that I was supposed to run 37. Having Greg there, I didn't worry about the math at all, nor did I pay attention to the total I'd done. At the end of that third, my left hamstring was a little tight or sore.

I put on my spikes, Lanangs, and jogged a lap in them. I wore socks with them for the first time since in the past they've always pinched my foot a little. The socks were a good choice-- no problem. But on that jogging lap I could really feel how flat those tiny shoes are... there was almost no transition between the spike plate and the heel. I could feel it in my arch every step of the way. Granted, on that lap I was striking on my heel and not on my toes as they're designed for, but whatever.

The next 2/3 went very well. I started to get pretty consistent, running 35-37, with bunches of those in a row. It took me a while to get used to wearing the spikes, but I found a good rhythm. I liked it a lot when Jack and Pat were running in front of me-- not so much to catch them, but it just made me feel more relaxed having someone in front. The wind was KILLER though. There was one 200 that Justin did with me where I felt it pick me up off the ground almost and I had to drop down just to keep from falling over. He did two with me before he had to go. Scott did one with me too. Everyone was doing their own workout, but it was really nice to have the company on the track. Greg took some video of us on his Droid. When he shares that with me, I'll post it too.

Splits from my watch

My watch only stores 50 laps, so when I got to #24, it kept showing them, but the memory was full and it wasn't keeping anything after that. So here are the splits for the first 24 of them. I'll assume that #25 was 36 or something like that. My recovery was pretty consistent, I'd say. I felt good. Of course, I was only running a 200 at a time.

Greg jogged over to catch me as I finished and told me that it was #25. I knew I couldn't possibly be finished though, so all I said was "what's next?" He was we were going to "put it all together." I had no idea what he was talking about... so I asked. Two 800s at the same pace. For some reason I still decided to take 200 splits during those. the first 800 was awful. I went out too fast, 35 into the wind, and came back 36, 37, 37. That last 37 was a hard fought battle though. I was working as hard as I could in that last 100, and it was obvious to Jack, Pat and Greg watching me. Definitely not a run 2:27 to run. He didn't tell me what the recovery was, so I walked 50m on the curve, jogged the rest of the way out, and then back to the line. #2 was a little bit better. I went out slower, 36, and then steady 37s the next 600. I tried to focus on my arms in the last 100 since the first 800 had been so ugly. It was better. Slower, but still better because it was more even. 2:29.

Can I stop now? No. I asked him again, "What's next?" I was hoping for more 200s, maybe even 400s. No. One mile at the same pace. Ugh. MF! He told me to jog around a little bit more, get water, and relax since it was at the same pace. Everyone else was finished at this point. Scott was gone, Justin was already at work probably. Pat said he'd jump in for the last 200 and I just ignored him, especially when he made fun of how skinny I was. I took my shirt off because I was so sweaty and I thought it would make it seem like I meant business. So there I am, standing in compression shorts and spikes in the middle of February. About to run a mile.

"I want a 5:04, even, not a 4:58 crashing at the end," Greg said. I waved in acknowledgement, and was off. It felt like walking to start, with the wind at my back. 17 at 100, 36 at 200, 74 at 400. Good. Lap two, stay relaxed. 18, 37, 76 at 800. Still good, slower, but that's goal pace. Lap three, time to get serious. 18, 37, 76. But on the back curve, the wind came and blew me into the infield. I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open too. Lap 4, starting to hurt. 19, 39. Pat gets in front of me and starts the last 200 with me. I'm not trying to catch him until the last 70 meters. "He's slowing down for me," I thought. "I bet he's loving that!" 75 for the last quarter. 5:05. A little slow, but good. I was really focused on my form at the end, and I ran through the line. I walked 50 meters and then jogged the back half of the track to get my shirt and walked the rest of the way back.

We stuck around the track for a while as Greg gave Pat and Jack some tips on form and drills. I just tried to regain composure. I never went to the well on anything, but I was done. I'm glad he didn't pull some crap and give me another 200 to run after that. Greg got a phone call and we hung around waiting for him for a while, but then realized we needed to get going. So the three of us went to cool down. It was so slow! Perfect.

Good workout. 13 miles for the day. Happy Presidents' Day!