5x2km

I felt lousy this morning when I woke up. Congestion, nasty sore throat, and cough. Not just a dry cough any more, but one in my chest. Uh-oh. However, I figured that I'd give it a shot, because the coach said to see how I felt. I didn't feel really tired, just had the nasty cold symptoms. So...what the heck.

We are visiting Mesquite, NV for a little sun and warmth. We got stuck here an extra day when our car broke down (oil hose failure; under recall thankfully...had it towed to the Toyota dealer in St. George and got a rental car; car is now fixed and we're driving home today). I looked up the local high school, and sure enough, they have a track. A pretty decent track, actually. I drove over there and it was open :). Yay! there were a couple people walking/running on the track, but it was generally quiet. Here are a couple photos. There was a nice view from the track but I neglected to get more pics of that before I left. You could see across the desert valley to the mountains.

I warmed up for 1600m in 9:58, feeling decent. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad? I did some dynamic stretching and then took off. I was to do 5x2km with 3 min rest (usually this workout has 2 min rest, but again, Jim had mercy on me). I took it nice and easy and controlled on the first 2km interval. 11:19.9. Not bad, and I felt fine, other than a bit of extra coughing and snot (TMI, sorry...). The second one felt good, too, and I finished that in 11:19.8. I was beginning to think this might be a good workout, but I had to take it easy so that I had enough for 3 more. Still, I felt pretty good, weirdly enough. I pushed a little harder on the third one and got there in 11:17.9. For the 4th interval, I knew I could push a bit more, since I'd only have one left. I still felt strong and good (excepting the hacking and coughing I did during each rest interval), and I did the fourth one in 11:14.7. Wow! Nice negative splits! I was a little tired but not bad, and I knew I could nail the last one. I gave it a good hard effort and finished in 11:14.0! Halfway through, the high school kids came onto the field for their PE class, but I was able to finish fine (though I did get a few snarky comments...whatever!). My heart rate was up to 165 at the end of the last one, so I was working it good and hard. Still, it felt easier than the 3x2km last week. I attribute some of that to altitude, as it is only 1600ft here vs 4500ft at the track in SLC, which does make speed work easier for sure. When I did speed work in Davis, CA, before WMA, it was relatively easier too. However, it doesn't seem to translate to a lot of advantage in a race. Still, I can't complain. Today was a good workout and I'm happy.

Edited to add: that's 56:26 for 10km...nice! :) :) :)

Now I've got to get feeling better, darn it. I have 15K tomorrow.

Garmin connect data here.