I haven’t been on the track this many times (3) since my freshman year in high school or maybe even since the 8th grade! The first was my initial run test with Carlos and Sue, the second was for a workout called, “Tempo 20” where the main set was to do 20 minutes between a 7:30 pace and a 7:45 pace (I managed 8:08), and today was for a workout called “VO2 max test + 1600 meter test (Z6)” I gotta tell you, right off the bat, that description got me real nervous….REAL nervous! Here is how it was supposed to go down:
After a warm-up that included some sprints and drills, I was supposed to do 4 laps (1600m = 1mile) at max effort. The notes clearly say, “YOU HAVE TO BE GOING ALL OUT” After this, there was a 5 minute recovery followed by 6 minutes @ max effort. The purpose of running the 6 minutes was to find the distance I cover during that time frame and to find the average pace during. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!!! After the 6 minute “sprint”, I had another 5 minute recovery before starting a 6x400m set at the average pace from that 6 min sprint.
My previous two track sessions were at a Horizon High School which is about 25-30 minutes from my house. Recently, I found out that a high school (Cactus Shadows) about 8-10 minutes from my house has a track I could use, so I hopped in the car around 4:50AM and drove off into the pre-dawn, humid, morning. The only thing missing (or so I thought) was my trusty iPod. For some reason, I couldn’t find it and had to get going. Of all the days I could have used some up tempo techno/dance music, this was it. After pulling into the parking lot, I quickly scanned the perimeter for where to get in. Within a few minutes, I quickly realized that there was no “real” entrance, rather a small opening between two locked gates. Apparently, the grounds crew keeps a chain locked around the posts, but keeps it open enough for people to fit through. The idea is to keep bikes and other vehicles out. I started to gather my stuff when I realized that I had left my HRM strap at home. Hopefully Carlos wasn’t interested in any HR data today, because he wasn’t going to get it! I approached the opening in the gate, passed my stuff through to the other side and started to squeeze through. The chain quickly restricted the gate from opening any further and stopped me in my tracks. A few more futile efforts to get through and I was looking for an alternative. The only thing that presented itself was to scale the 8’ chain link fence, so that’s exactly what I did. The metal was slippery from the morning humidity and I had visions of slipping the entire time, but fortunately, I made it safely and was able to get after the task at hand fairly quickly. A quick side note; two more people showed up and neither of them could fit through the gate either. They too had to scale the fence, which had me questioning current trespassing laws and if we weren’t actually supposed to be there. Well, it was too late to quit, so I forged on with my warm-up. Here is how the meat of this went (Keep in mind that while the track is 400m, I didn't start/stop each lap precisely the same time, hence the discrepency between time vs. average on #'s 1 & 4):
• 1600m covered with a 6:21 pace
• Covered 0.87 miles (for a 6:51 min/mile) in the following 6 minute run
• 400 #1 = 1:44.9 (6:40 pace)
• 400 #2 = 1:45.2 (6:43 pace)
• 400 #3 = 1:47.3 (6:51 pace)
• 400 #4 = 1:43.1 (6:45 pace)
• 400 #5 = 1:45.5 (7:02 pace)
• 400 #6 = 1:43.5 (6:46 pace)
You know, for me, I was pretty pleased with these results. Back on June 30th, 2010, Erik timed my 1 mile run at 6:44 when we had speed work on the soccer fields by my work. Is a 20 sec decrease good? Is it bad? I don’t know, but it sure felt good to go fast….even if only for a mile.
I warmed down, scaled the fence again, and got back in the car. On my way out, I ran into James, who was just setting out for a run of his own. We made some small talk before parting ways. After getting home, I quickly changed out of my running gear and into my cycling stuff right there in the garage. I had to knock back a big gear, low RPM, 5x5 set that lasted 1 ½ hours before my training day was over. With about 10 minutes left in my ride, Kristi and the kids pulled up next to me (on their way to start their days) and shouted some words of encouragement. I always love when that happens, especially on the tail end of a brick.
Here is what Carlos had to say when I sent him the data:
"This is really nice work on the whole workout and it is probably good that you left the HRM at home. Now we use this data to set up your pacing! You are on your way to faster running!"
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