Weather - 33 degrees, cloudy, windy. Completed my toughest
workout of the year thus far. Because of the race this past Saturday, I
postponed my Sunday bike interval workout until today. I also wanted to
do a track workout today, so I did a double dose of running and bike
intervals. I considered that I may be doing too much in one day, and I
am probably not 100% recovered from the race. But the 15K is in 2
weeks, on the 22nd, so this week needs to be hard, because next week
will be somewhat easy. I have a hill workout planned for Wednesday, and
a 1 hour 45 minute long run on Friday. I have been erring on the side
of caution all winter, so I decided to err with balls today. Ran
1 mile to the Urbana HS track, then another easy mile to complete the
warm-up. After stretching I ran 5 x 100M accelerations. I ran the
faster ones in 19 seconds, which put things into cold perspective for
me - I have no talent for speed. I wasn't all out sprinting, but 15-16
seconds would have been more convincing. After the accelerations I
walked around for 5 minutes, then decided to do 400 meter intervals
with a 400M jogging rest between. The first one hit me hard, I was
struggling to find the correct breathing rhythm, and my legs felt a bit
heavy. I knew I was not on top of my game today, so I decided I would
go a maximum of 8, or stop short if the lap times got out of control. I
hit the first 400 in 93, which was not bad considering it felt like
100. I was thinking of calling it quits if the next lap was in the
upper 90's or above. I ended up doing all 8, I seemed to get stronger
with each interval, but I never did feel energetic. The times were 93,
91, 93, 91, 91, 90, 91, 87. Although I felt like I was carrying a sack
of lead on my back, I ran the laps loose and comfortable, well, as
comfortable as possible when trying to go fast. I wanted to give a
harder effort than last week, speed wise. Last week the laps were
supposed to be at 5K pace, this week I wanted to try to go as fast as
possible, while still creating the impression that I was running a 5k -
I mean, I didn't want to go all out and then die the next lap, the
effort had to be controlled throughout. In that respect I was successful. I
think 400 meter interval times will be an indicator if I can break
19:00 in a 5k. I am thinking I have to hit 85 consistently, such as 8 x
400's within 84-87 range, if I want to have a shot at it. Considering
today was in the low 30's, with a stiff wind on the track, and I was
wearing sweats, 3 shirts, jacket, hat, and gloves, I think I can
realistically get to 87-90 once the weather warms. Getting below that
will require a lot of effort and luck - I am looking forward to the
challenge. After the intervals I ran 2 miles to Cardinal. I
changed into shorts and a singlet, stretched again, then rode 37
minutes on the bike, doing 10 intervals, each one with a tighter
tension on the wheel. I cut down my rest times to 30-45 seconds each,
and the length of the intervals lasted from 30-60 seconds. I gave it a good effort, and did well, I can feel my quads are benefiting from
this type of workout. It was the 4th week of bike intervals. I then did 5 sets of strength exercises, and a 15 minute walk home. #115 z.m. - #29
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