Week 17 - Day 5

Wow. Today's workout was absolutely exhausting. I decided to move my Sunday workout up a day so I could go to pickup tomorrow and not have to worry about fitting in a tough workout. Also, after speaking with Alison, I changed my goal time from 27-28 per 200m to 25-26 per. I went to Cardozo and ran by myself again. Here's how I did:

Rest: 5 - 5 1/2 minutes
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.2
2 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 25.5
3 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.3
4 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.6
5 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.1
6 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.9
7 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.5
8 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.8
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My legs were very tired after this workout but I am very happy with the results; I was annoyed when I poked over 27 the last time I was supposed to run 26s, so I really wanted to work hard today. I also got sick, which was surprising just because I made a point of running before I'd eaten anything today. I'm absolutely spent. I ended up resting closer to 5:30 prior to the last two reps, but I made a point of staying faithful to the prescribed 5 minutes. Right when I was about to run rep #2, one of the dudes who was playing soccer decided to run a lap for fun; merely chasing him made a huge difference...I ran an "easy" 25.5. Right before rep #5, some soccer players asked me how fast I was running and complimented me on my times; this was enough to pump me up for that rep and I ran a 26.1...noticeably faster than the times around it. Examples like these make me think that had I had someone helping me down the homestretch (or pumping me up), I'm sure I wouldn't have killed myself today (and, in addition, would have run faster). But, as it were, I had to get myself up for the challenge. There was music playing for a soccer tournament on the field, so that helped. I also did some visualization and occasionally some *light* face slapping to stop me from dipping in-between runs (perhaps that's weird, I dunno). After running my last rep, I made it back to my stuff, but could hardly keep on my feet. I sat down and kind of sagged there. I had to help my feet off the ground to change out of my spikes and had a little water (which would come back to haunt me). I then pulled myself up and tried some halfhearted stretching but then my stomach started feeling bad. My friend Erik, who had been playing in the soccer tournament (and who had spoken with me briefly earlier in my workout), then came over to see how things had ended up, but I felt awful at this point and had to cut things a little short. After a quick visit to a nice spot behind the bleachers, I got on my bike and rolled home.

2-3 more tough workouts and then it's game time. I hope all this work will lead to a good result.

Andrew