Monday, May 07, 2012

7x800/200...er, no, make that 6x800/200

I was really tired this morning. I stayed up too late hanging out with my husband watching TV! Yeah, not the smartest thing to do, but I don't regret it. Plus, my legs were still a bit tired this morning from the 20K. I forgot to mention on Saturday that my right hip was bothering me a bit for the last 5km or so, but nothing serious. It felt a little tight this morning, but after the warm-up and some good dynamic stretching it really didn't bother me. Whew.

The weather was OK this morning. It was about 45F (7C) and sunny, but it was quite windy. Not windy enough that I would consider postponing the workout, but windy enough to be annoying and to slow me down by a second or two each time I came around the south side of the track (the wind was blowing from the east). I just looked, and it appears that the wind was steady at 10 mph (16 kph) with 20 mph gusts (32 kph). On the plus side, it wasn't cold, and it wasn't raining. I'll take it.

I was a bit late to the track but with my hip a little tender I knew I'd better do the full 1600m warm-up with strides and dynamic stretches. I warmed up well, in 9:25 for the 1600m and felt OK though a little sluggish on the strides. The stretching felt great and then I was ready to roll.

I knew I only had time for 5 or 6 repeats, even though I was supposed to do 7. I thought I'd only be able to fit 5 in, but I squeezed out a 6th despite the time crunch and though it was close I did manage to get the kids to school on time. I felt OK this morning, but not great. It seemed like more effort than last week for some reason, though my times were comparable (if a little slower) and I'm sure I could have done one more repeat at the same pace if I'd had time.

All my 800s were between 4:09-4:11 and my 200s were 54-56 seconds. The 1km totals were 5:04-5:06. Very consistent! Slower than last week, but not too bad considering the wind. Total for the 6km was 30:34, and my average heart rate for the fast segments was 157. I was pushing hard, though - the max on my last rep was 170.

Now the taper begins in earnest. A couple 8k fartleks Friday & Monday and 3x1km @85% effort next Thursday are the only hard workouts left. Race day is May 20th!

Garmin data here.

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