4x2km

I woke up feeling better than I have in a while; I'm still coughing a bit but my congestion is less and I'm feeling more energetic. Still, I wasn't sure how this would go. It turned out to be hard, not surprisingly.

The weather was cooperative; a bit chilly at 28F (-2C) but with just a slight breeze and clear. Yesterday's snow had melted and the track was dry. There was a beautiful moonset just as I left for the track - big, yellow moon right on the horizon. Lovely!

I warmed up with 1600m in 10:02, including 2x100m strides on the last 400m. I didn't feel very smooth or fast on the pick-ups, so I was a little concerned. Rightly so. I was not fast today. I started off at what I thought was a very conservative pace: 11:23.9 for the first 2km. I only had 2 min rest today between the 2Ks, but still, I was way slow. I knew during the 2nd one that this was going to be tough today. I was working too hard for the pace I was moving at :(. The 2nd 2km was 11:32.7, and then I knew the other two were going to really hurt. Darn it! I had tried to be conservative, but due to illness perhaps or the altitude (my 5x2km where I was 11:14-11:19 on all of them was much lower, in Mesquite, NV) I was much slower today. The 3rd 2km was 11:39, and I was really hurting, but hey, there was only one left. The last one I mustered all my strength for and surprised myself with 11:33.6. I was truly working harder than I did in Mesquite - my HR was up to 167 and 168 on the last 2 intervals, but I just had no speed. My legs didn't feel THAT tired, and I think it was really my lungs that didn't have it today.

After the workout I did have some GI trouble for a few hours :(, but it cleared up by 11am. Whew.

Oh well...it's my birthday, and I gave a good journal club at work (at least people said it was good and I felt like it came off well), and I enjoyed working out hard even if I wasn't that fast. How many people are out there doing a track workout at age 42? I'm just happy that I can do it, and that I'm in great shape and enjoying life. Now I get to enjoy pizza and ice cream cake with my birthday twin Sarah :).

Garmin connect data here.