Worked Out

Many of us, myself included, were still reeling from the effects of the last interval. We crowded around the track's start/finish line counting the seconds until we'd have to take off running again. No one said much, but we all hoped to rest in perpetuity. Behind us, a storm of women thundered down the straight-away. "Good", I thought, "we'll have more time to rest before starting up again". Dave Wertz, who like others now had his shirt off, looked wide-eyed at the group and yelled "are you guys ready?" He wanted to start up before the women passed us instead of after. Wertz, an interval sensation, a man who can PR in a time trial, a quiet Swiss clock, asked again; "Ready?" Again, no one said anything but we all shuffled unenthusiastically to the starting line. The women drew closer. Dave's eyes were now even wider, like a lemur startled by a fossa. With his hand now on his watch ready to tap "start", he yelled "C'mon, we're going". 

And then we were off. 

The workout didn't seem hard on paper, but by the second 1k I knew things would get worse before they got any better. Wertz led the first of two 2ks and we ran just a tick faster that the desired time of 6:25 (running 77s and coming through the mile in 5:08). I helped lead the next assault and ran even 75s for a 6:15 (5:00 at the mile). The 4 x 1k was scheduled to be cut down from running 73s on rep 1, to 72s on rep 2...to 70s on rep 4. I ran 3:01 on rep 1 and 3:00 on rep 2 before sliding backwards. Running 71s and 70s, and keeping that pace, just isn't in my cards right now, but I did the best I could. I ended up running a couple of 3:03s, which in retrospect isn't half bad, but it was the first workout in awhile where I've gone backwards (or cut up instead of down). It felt good to get worked and it was probably just what the doctor ordered.

I opted out of a morning run because I am beginning to feel the effects of all the mileage I've been running so I only got in 10 for the day. I was pretty spent by the end of the day. After a bottle of Guinness my eyes got heavy and I fell asleep.