Week 7 - Day 3

What a difference four days makes. Today was my hardest workout to date, and it was a good improvement from Sunday.

Rest: full walking (8-10 minutes)
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 300m - 44 - 44.4
2 - 300m - 44 - 44.1
3 - 300m - 44 - 44.9
4 - 300m - 44 - 44.8
5 - 300m - 44 - 43.7
6 - 300m - 44 - 43.3
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I ran in spikes today indoors at Yates. I was by myself. My strategy for the first section of the workout was to run these reps like a 400m: out fast for the first 80m, hit a stride down the second 100m, and then kick it up down the backstretch. I eased up a bit too much in the first rep, though, and had to kick it up a bit more than I was expecting to hit my time. I started to feel the strain on my calves after the third or fourth rep but took advantage of the materials nearby and rolled out my calves and hips with a foam roller in-between reps. After the 4th rep, I ran full-bore the whole distance and brought in faster times. This was an encouraging workout. Looking forward to getting back outside, although there are certain perks at Yates...namely, blocks! I haven't used them yet but am excited to get back in later this season to work on my starts.

Week 6 - Day 6

I had an awful workout today. I didn't eat well and felt out of sync. Laura came with me to Yates and I ran 8x200m.

Rest: 5 minutes
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s) - heartrate (bpm)

1 - 200m - 28 - 29
2 - 200m - 28 - 29
3 - 200m - 28 - 28
4 - 200m - 28 - 30
5 - 200m - 28 - 30
6 - 200m - 28 - 30
7 - 200m - 28 - 30
8 - 200m - 28 - 30
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I felt bad today. I really need to eat better, but I'm still stymied by these times. I did not run in spikes, but still. Given the rest I was taking, I expected much better times than these. I'd be surprised if my time trial yesterday played a part in my performance today...can a single hard rep really affect someone like this the day after? I'm not sure, but at least there's tons of room for improvement.

Week 6 - Day 5 (Time Trial #1)

After a month of blizzard-induced (and yes, laziness-induced) silence, I've made a vow to start posting after workouts just like I did last year. Without further ado...

I did my first time trial today...finally. With the help of my friend Alisha (and later George), I obtained some guest passes to the indoor Georgetown facility, Yates Field House, which is complete with the nicest indoor track in the city. It's 200m and also has a nice 80+m straightaway, which is rare for indoor tracks. After consulting with a savvy track guy there running the masters circuit of the same meets I compete in, I lined up and had my new friend time me. His watch didn't have as accurate time as my stop watch, but he timed me at 39 seconds. He also explained that I'd have been up to .75 seconds faster had I run outside (and unimpeded...I had to slow slightly once), since you have to do nearly 3 full turns to do a 300m on an indoor track, while you only run a single wider turn outside. Regardless, not a bad start to the season, especially considering how the blizzard affected my schedule.

Excited I'm back into it! Looking forward to tracking my progress against last year.