Green Day

After an easy, 3 mile shakeout this morning, I hit the track at B-CC after work for some mile repeats. The workout was: an untimed 800 @ cruise pace, 4 x 1600 (400 jog rest), 2 x 400 faster (200 jog rest). My times ended up being: 5:24, 5:20, 5:10, 4:57, 67, 62.

Looking back on the workout, which I intended to run at goal 5k pace, or about 5:15-5:20/mile, I think I started way too slow. Thats not all bad, as the slower miles at the start certainly helped me warm into the workout. The first one felt like a tempo interval, easy and smooth. On the second one, I actually struggled a bit and was having some trouble holding good form in the last 800. On my recovery lap, I worried a bit as to whether I would be able to even complete 2 more miles @ 5:20. I told myself to worry less about pace, relax a bit, and just run fast.

I did exactly that, and the third one really shocked me. I expended much less effort running 10 seconds faster, opening up my stride and just trying to focus on running hard rather than hitting certain splits. I feel as if this is where the workout turned from cruise intervals to an actual hard workout. The last one was hard, but didn't feel like any other sub-5 mile I've ever run. This one was much more manageable. The 400s at the end surprised me as well; I locked up big time on the last one so I was happy to see 62 after I crossed the line.

Last week's workout went very well, and this one went infinitely better. I'm still trying to get used to these types of workouts, so I'm sure I'll continue to see improvements over the next few weeks.

The best part of the workout, however, was a conversation I had with (presumably) a B-CC high school girl standing at the top of the bleachers during one of my recovery jogs:

B-CC girl: I love running at night with my shirt off wearing short shorts.
Me: I know, its pretty hot, right?
B-CC girl: It is, can I come down there and bone you?
Me: Yeah, sure!
...5 minutes later...
B-CC girl: I love you, shirtless man I don't know!!