Track 2 miles

What's the point of wearing light weight trainers if they're going to get soaking wet in the first 30 seconds of the run and then weigh 10 pounds the whole time? Ugh. It started pouring down raining 5 seconds before we started running and lasted for about 10 minutes. It was just annoying. Bob and I both said that we were actually cold! On any other day I probably would have enjoyed it, but it was already 100% humidity. Oh well. When it happened again in the 3rd interval, I welcomed it.

I started the day with Justin, Jimmy, Bob, David and Jeff Branscome, making his first appearance with the group. Hopefully not his last. The ol' timers were just going for a run but went with us to the track. David mistook a woman wearing a pink tank-top and a visor that was walking laps for Mike Brooks. Classic. I'd hoped to warm up at least 2 miles, but settled with less because Justin was itching to go after we didn't start until like 7:04am. So off we went!

I went through the first lap in 85 seconds, right on for 5:40 pace. Justin was next to me and Jeff was next to him in lane 2. I felt he may be in over his head, so I told him to drop back behind us, so at least he wasn't running longer in lane 2. The next lap was fine too, but we went through the 200 in 40 seconds so I had to slow it down a lot for the homestretch. Justin just wanted to go faster though. He was breathing like crazy on my shoulder, and my legs felt like bricks. The next two laps were slightly too fast, and we hit the mile in 5:38. Jeff said he was going to drop back, and I supported that decision and encouraged him to hold onto a slower pace. Justin kept asking me if it was too slow, meanwhile I was trying to slow down. It was reasonably humid with some steam coming off of the track with the sunlight, and I didn't want this to turn into a pissing contest with me and Justin on the second interval. I was unable to control the pace and keep it slow enough, so our 2 mile ended up being 11:12. Not bad, but considerably faster than I wanted to start, especially with how heavy my legs felt.

I went to jog my two laps backwards while Jeff sprinted in hard down the homestretch and Justin went to poop behind the dumpster. It's a fine spot when it's pitch black at 5am, but maybe not so much at 7:30am... I told Justin we needed to do the exact same thing that we'd done on that 2nd mile. He wasn't too excited. He ran with me for about 10 feet and then dropped back. I hit solid 83's for the first mile to run 5:33; perfect. I looked back and saw Justin pretty far behind me and Jeff pretty far behind him. Jimmy was doing his own thing (smartest person on the track probably). By the time that I got to 2900m, Jeff was closing on Justin. I picked it up a little on that 2nd mile when I knew I was all alone and ended up running a 10:58. I wasn't expecting that! David was back after Bob stopped 25 minutes in, so he jogged my 2 laps with me. I expect that if I check, that recovery was faster than my first recovery. [Note: Confirmed. First recovery around 9:30 pace; second recovery around 9:00 pace.] Oh well, I was pumped after the last interval and told him that for this last one, I was going to try to stay as close to 80 seconds a lap as I could.

Justin started with me for the last interval, although he didn't get in 2 laps of recovery. I don't know if he got in one lap of recovery... I was just looking at the watch (I wore both Garmin and Timex) to see those 200 splits under 40 seconds. David, Jeff and Jimmy started an interval when I was maybe 350m in, so that gave me something to chase. I passed them on the curve between 600-700m, and thanked them for the carrot. David told me it would be 25 cents. So witty, that Lovegrove! Justin was next. He was about 200 meters ahead of me and I just went after him. In hindsight I probably went a little too hard that middle mile and and paid the price the  last two laps, but I was excited and wanted to get it over with. I caught Justin over the next lap and then sort of maxed out. I didn't think I could go any faster. But that's fine, I ran 5:18 for the first mile and then finished up at 10:37, easing up the last 20 meters and almost walking across the line. Good job!

Workout Splits

During the 2nd interval, I thought that maybe I should do 4 repeats instead of just 3, as that's what I'd been trying to do recently on the roads. I think I'd originally decided to do 3x2 mile because I'd planned to run the Leesburg 10K tomorrow instead of this, and so doing a 6 mile workout would have been roughly equivalent to doing a 10K. [Note: add a minute for the 0.2 and it was about a 34 minute 10K. That would have been ok probably? I don't know?] My last interval was around my 10K PR pace, so that's good at least. But the 2nd half of this whole workout was too fast for me to try to come back with another 2 mile. If I'd been deliberately slower on #1 & 2, I could have done a 4th. I felt good when I finished, and did a really slow recovery with David back to the car. Jimmy seemed upbeat about his workout, but Justin just had a terrible day. He went out too fast for the first one, in my opinion, and just cratered from there. I think his 3rd interval was something like 12:50. He'll bike tomorrow and hopefully be recovered by Monday to do hills. He's working hard these days... getting ready for his big triathlon at the end of the month. I'm sure he'll be fine.

I learned a few things this morning. #1 - wear thinner socks with the Bostons. They're light enough but my feet feel bulky in them with my normal socks. #2 - I'm getting there. The road workouts may suck, but I'm still doing work. If I'm not there in one month, I'll be there in five, and that's what really counts. After 6 days this week, I'm at 80 miles right now. Tomorrow should be an easy 7-8 miles with Scott and maybe Jimmy. I wouldn't be opposed to running it somewhere different and getting some soft surfaces under my feet. It's nice not having to double today, or yesterday, or tomorrow. This week will probably be my highest mileage of the summer, unless next week is crazy. I plan to stay in the 80s next week ending with Hartwood, but after that I'll start to drop it down. I've got the triathlon in 2 weeks, then the WM/UVA football game, school starting and then Philadelphia. It's coming up!

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