Hammerin' Out the 400's ... in the Rain

OBJECTIVE
dynamic stretching warm-up
1.5 mi. warm-up @ 8:37-9:46
12 x 400m @ 92 w/3 min. active recoveries
1.5 mi. cool-down @ 8:37-9:46

ACHIEVED
1.94 mi. WU
dynamic stretching
87/89/88/90/88/84/83/85/85/83/82/85
1.73 mi. CD

Total miles = 9.53
Total time = 1:24:34

7:05 AM 75° 94% 8 mph rain

We've desperately needed rain here in Houston of late. It came this morning ... while I was running. Frankly, I didn't even mind that much.

My legs are still feeling the hills on the Peachtree course from Saturday. As a result I wasn't sure how today's intervals on the track were going to go. But I loosened up on the warm up over to the track then did some stretching before starting.

Last week I "cheated" between intervals by walking instead for jogging at a 8:37-9:46 pace. Today I felt surprisingly good during the first interval as 87 seconds felt easy. At that moment, I felt like I should be able to run them all day. So that prompted me to make the active recovery what it was supposed to be. Of course after the fourth interval I was sucking wind ... big time. I had hit it in 90 seconds (my slowest of the day) but I was only a third of the way through my set and felt myself falling off the cliff so at this point I started walking the 3-minute recovery periods. This cheat helped me get back on track. I did jog the recovery after the the ninth and eleventh intervals but it was really making a huge difference in my recovery for the next interval. Obviously I'm not getting the full benefit of the workout unless I'm hitting the recovery period at the recovery pace. So I've still got work to do. I think I've got another round of 400 meter intervals next week so I'll get at least one more chance to get it right!

PRE RUN
water & GrapeNut's w/1% milk

POST RUN
SlimFast & multivitamin
Later, smoothie (strawberries, blackberries, cherries, almonds, honey, flax, cranberry juice, yogurt)