AM - Sasha called me up last night and invited me to do some quarters with him this morning. He wanted to do them in 69-70 seconds, which is close to my goal 3k pace, so I figured I could make a good 3k workout of it.
We did 5 together with about 1:30 - 1:50 rests between in 70, 70, 69, 69, 69. I did a 6th with the same rest in 70.
Then I took 2:00 rest and did the last 4 with 1:00 rest and tried to hit consistent 70s. #7 and 8 were okay, (70.2, 70.2), but 9 and 10 became difficult (71.1, 70.8). I think 2 more were possible, but I didn't want to totally kill myself.
Doing this on the trail in flats felt much gentler than on the track, although Sasha mentioned afterwards that quarters on the trail tend to be slower than the track. At least distance-wise, a 70 second 440 yards on the trail would be about .4 seconds longer than a 400m on the track. But the trail may add a little time in addition to that. I don't know. It would be cool if that is true.
Anyway, I'm pleased with the workout. I think I get so used to tempo and 5k pace that breaking into the faster paces is a good idea. I felt a little sluggish, and the rapid burn from the faster paces feels rather foreign at the moment.
I was thinking about my training in high school, and it's interesting that due to all the short, fast-pace workouts, I developed my top-end speed better than I have now. But now, because I do a lot more miles and tempo runs and mile repeats and such, my aerobic capacity is much higher and I can maintain faster paces much longer than ever in high school.
My 400m pr (55.3) was in a 4x400 relay in high school, after I'd run the 1600m and 800m that day. I think fresh I'd have been low 54s. I don't know if I could do that today. My 1600m pr has only improved 4 seconds since then, while my 5k has dropped over a minute, if you count the altitude conversion. Last season I never got around to doing any pure speed workouts, and I'm thinking that a few of those would go a long ways to bring my times down more.
Anyway, just thinking out loud. It was a fun morning.
PM - Added an easy 3 tonight.
