Mid 50s, overcast/cloudy. Objective: VO2 max and leg speed/strength. Warm up: a couple of miles of jogging around town, finishing with 2 track laps of alternating 100m strides w/ 100m jogs. Interval workout: 4 x 1000 meters w/ 2:30 recovery. Target time 4:54. Results 4:57, 4:53, 4:52, 5:05. I started out with an easy jog from the High School down to Centennial Park and back. On the track, all was darkness except for a light on at one side and my headlamp, which was quite bright (new batteries). The overall effect was kind of eerie. There was a horrible smell at the track, something between a skunk and burning plastic. So not the best conditions, but tolerable. At least no rain falling.
As usual, the intervals were incredibly hard oxygen-wise. I was opening my mouth like a fish trying to get more air. On the third rep I could feel myself slowing down so I am quite surprised that this was the fastest one. The fourth one felt like desperately hanging on, so no surprise on the slowdown there. I just kept telling myself that the effort counts more than actually hitting the goal pace, otherwise I think I would have given up after the 3rd rep. I did a very brief cool down - legs totally shaking - by the track and drove back up the hill to home. A couple of easy walk/run miles with SnoFlake were just the ticket to loosen up some more and enjoy a little non-gasping-for-breath running. Hey, this is nice.
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