Week 17 - Day 3

Today was my first full speed "distance" sprints in a while...but I almost didn't even make it out there. I went home early yesterday because of mild cold symptoms (can't be taking risks these days...) and missed my Wednesday plyo workout. When I woke up this morning, my sore throat and congestion wasn't better, so I worked from home. By the end of the day, I started feeling better but, still tired, took a nap at 4:30. I woke up at 6:30 and felt *very* sluggish. I could barely roll out of bed, let alone conceive of heading to the track... But, an hour later, after half a caffeine pill and a quick bike ride, I was pumped up and ready to go. So ready to go that some food I'd had 3 hours earlier decided it didn't want to stay in my stomach...this has become something of a trend. Anyway, due to my weekend off and how long it had been since I'd run a good distance, I was unsure where I'd be today. I treated my goal times today as more of a guess from Alison of where I'd be...not something to pace to. I also ran completely on my own today; this is noteworthy simply because I've been lucky enough to have others run with me on many occasions in the past and I'm sure the extra bodies helped.

Rest: full
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 300m - 41 - 38.9
2 - 400m - 58 - 57.4
3 - 500m - 74 - 78.7
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I was happy with my 300 and 400 times today but wish I'd had a little more for my 500. When I was running my 300, I checked my watch about halfway down the homestretch and saw it at 31. Not wanting to push so hard as to ruin my later reps (see this workout), I didn't go into overdrive for my last 50m. I was pushing hard but I felt controlled. For the 400, I went out full speed for the first 100m, throttled back down the backstretch, and then cranked it up at the 200m mark. I pushed all the way through and while I felt fatigued, I still had some spring in my legs and was solidly up on the balls of my feet. For the 500, I went out hard for the first 100, throttled back for the next 200, and then gave it everything I had for the last 200. I was disappointed with my time and definitely felt my legs respond less from the get-go. Also, my rest today was quite long. There were soccer players milling about on the track, so I had to wait longer than I wanted to run. My average rest was around 25 minutes...impressive, I know.

At any rate, I feel pretty good about where I am and am excited about getting out to race in just two and a half weeks! I need to buy more spikes for my shoes...I seem to have lost a couple over the last few months.