I woke up to howling wind again, this time supposedly 20-30 mph from the south. It definitely felt every bit of that. I decided against the tempo since I didn't feel like running a third of it against the wind. I went with a plan to do 6 x 800s at 3:30 pace thinking it would be do-able and I'd only have to fight the wind 100m at a time (the track runs north/south). I planned an easy 400 between each.
Did 2 miles warmup to the track in about 8:40 pace. Then started my first 800. I noted the first tailwind 200 was about a 48, and felt easy since the wind was practically carrying me. The next 200 into the wall of wind was a 57 and I barely arrived at the 400 on pace (1:45). So that's how it was gonna be... I increased my effort a bit and finished the first one in 3:24. From there it got worse. Next was a 3:27, then a 3:31 after which I felt like I needed to walk, and did so for about 5 seconds. I shuffled my easy 400 and jogged right out of the field! I was done, and figured I'd just do an easy loop around the university instead. I saw the girls track team as I left (they were noticeably absent from the track for the first time this morning). They were doing their intervals on the east/west path that goes around the school. That made me feel a little better, that they didn't feel like dealing with that headwind either. But I still regretted not slogging through the last 3 800s, even if I had to do them at 3:40 or 3:50.
On the way home I decided to do a HMGP mile for mile 7 and got a huge side cramp halfway...come on. I almost never get those, but this one was especially debilitating. Fought through it and managed to eke out a 7:52 after which my legs were heavy and full of acid. Come on, really? Managed a 9:15 mile to close it out. What a day. 8 miserable miles in 1:07. I guess some days you just don't have it... |