Well, I finally found out what the "short track" at the BYU facility is. I got there for a workout and half the track was closed off by giant garage doors. I went and asked the janitors if they could open it up, but they said it is always closed on Saturday's.... that doesn't make much sense to me since the only thing going on in the other end was a karate practice, but the bottom line is that they wouldn't open it for me. Bleh.
So the short track really exists and really is 7 1/7 laps per mile. I was a little upset about it and almost left, but finally decided to stick it out and run my workout. I'm glad I stuck it out, cause the workout went better than expected.
I had 4x1mile planned today at 5:00 pace, but I just did 7 laps per rep to make it easier to figure. So 5:00 pace came to 4:54 for 7 laps.
The first two were kinda tough -- I was having trouble with the frequent turns, and felt like it was wearing me out.
Rep 1 - 4:58 (5:04 pace)
5:00 rest
Rep 2 - 4:56 (5:02 pace)
5:00 rest
Since I was feeling a little tight, I expected to start the bonking process on rep 3, but Sean Sundwall's post yesterday about relaxing came to mind (on Sasha's cruise control thread -- if you haven't read it, you should), and I tried to relaxing myself a little more. My stride got a little longer and my limbs felt looser, and I felt awesome. I started the 4th rep expecting it to kill, but each lap just felt easier and easier.
Rep 3 - 4:52 (4:58 pace)
6:00 rest (had to wait for high school runners)
Rep 4 - 4:48 (4:54 pace)
I was shocked that I still felt really good after the fourth, and I probably should have done at least one more, but there was a high school group doing an 800m time trial, so I stuck to the original game plan and headed out on the rest of my run.
The other 9 miles were done in 60:02 (6:40 pace), and it felt really good. I'm pleased with today's workout. | 