Tomorrow I turn 36. I felt every bit that old and more tonight at the UW Dempsey Indoor track. After several consecutive awesome workouts, tonight was a real stinker.
The workout was 4x1000m @2:50 (4:33 pace) with 90 seconds rest. Aftet the fourth 1000m, I was to jog 8 minutes before doing 2x600 @1:39 (4:25 pace) with 90 seconds rest and then 2x400m in 65 (4:21 pace) with 90 seconds rest. Let's just say things didn't go so well.
John Timeus and I warmed up together for about 5.5 miles, most of it outside. After stretching and changing into racing flats, we began the workout. I led the first one with the intention of trading off the lead each rep. After the first 200m we were 1 second slow. Not a huge deal except I ended up dropping another second every 200m after that for a finishing time of 2:55. Ugh. And to think I had three more of those. Second one was also in 2:55 and i was stinkin up the joint while John (albeit 11 years my junior) was right on. Getting gapped by five seconds never looked so bad. Third one was getting worse as I was really tired: 2:58. The fourth and final one came in at 2:57 and I was ready to pack it up and go except that would have been the only thing more embarrassing than botching my expected times.
After an 8-minute jog filled with "what the heck happened" we rolled into our 600m repeats. The shorter the distance the worse I am, but 2 laps (it's a 307m track) seemed doable even at sprint speeds (for me).
First one was in 1:42. Ugh. What a day. Second one: 1:43. I was ready to call a cab.
The good news was that I was only 2x400m plus a cool down away from going home and to bed. Oh...the thought of my pillow was searing my brain.
The two 400s came in at 66 and 67...the only two times remotely close to what I was supposed to hit. Keep in mind I have never broken 1:00 in the 400m. So 66 and 67, under the circumstances, were just fine by me. So was the nice 2M cooldown outside to my car.
Feeling old tonight.
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