I thought this workout was going to be terrible. I felt kind of lousy; still battling that cold - dry cough all night, sore throat, runny nose, and GI system not great this morning or last night (I think it was the dried cranberries...sigh....love those but must NOT eat them).
I drove over to Park City High School to use their track (we're enjoying a little time away for the weekend), but it was locked up tight as a drum. Drat. Drat. Drat. There is nowhere flat in this town, and that is a bit of a problem. I cold drive to Kimball Junction where there are flatter spots, but there is more traffic there. Heck, I could drive home (only 35 min or so). Naaaah...suck it up and do the workout. There was a paved path in front of the high school with 1 km between stoplights. Perfect. OK, not perfect, since it was 20m (65ft) of hill in that 1km. Well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?
My times were about 10 sec slower going uphill (for each 500m) and 10 sec faster going downhill. I was working really, really hard; my medium effort 500s going uphill were definitely harder than usual. The downhill was a bit easier but still...it was tough going. And it wasn't as cool as I'd have liked. When I finished it was 64F (here, at elevation!) and it was VERY humid this morning. I did pause very briefly (10 sec?) after each 2km (starting about 4-5km?) for a quick drink, as my throat was dry and scratchy and I was warm. The saving grace was that it started to drizzle a bit and it was breezy, so I didn't overheat too much. I wondered about 4km in if I was going to finish, but about 5km I got a second wind, felt great, and just kept going. I was able to push very hard to the finish and get an amazing time.
On the first km I went 500m uphill and then 500m downhill and did 5:30. Nice. When I averaged my uphill and downhill fast 500m and my uphill and downhill medium 500m, my fasts were all 2:44-2:48 and my mediums were all 2:58-3:01, with my last 1km giving me the fastest times. Yeah, I gave it my all, and I did well on this one. I'm psyched! Now just need good weather for the 40km.
Total time: 57:24 with ave HR 162 (by my spreadsheet - the Garmin site has made some sort of calculation error, showing the average as 152, but there is no way that is correct). Yup, that is 4 seconds faster than my old PR which I set a week before the 50K. That one was on a track, and this on the hill, at altitude, with a cold. Now for some rest for the rest of the weekend to see if I can shake the cold.
Garmin data here.
Some pictures (below):
1. The path looking uphill
2. The path looking downhill
3. Park City High School
4. Fall colors are starting up here at elevation at Park City Mountain Resort. In just a short while people will be skiing up here!
1 comment:
Congratulations!
Post a Comment