Log #34: Speedy McPoop-Pants... almost.

Here's a math formula for you: Indian Food + 6 hour flight + 5 glasses of wine + Speed Workout = Ninja Turtle.

Actually, today's Ninja Turtle wasn't so bad. I was pretty tired considering I'd just gotten back in town, but I managed to make it down to the track for my speed workout. Today's workout was supposed to look like this:

10-20 minute warmup
1200m @ 4:55
1000m @ 4:03
800m @ 3:13
600m @ 2:24
400m @ 1:35
10 minute cool down

I jogged down to the track, so there's my 10 minute warmup. I then cranked up the devil music on my iPod and started hoofing. I did the first 1200m in 4:45. Not bad.

The next 1000m was a little tougher, but I still hit 3:54 for my time. On the 800m run, I got about 2/3 of the way through when that old familiar feeling hit my stomach. It was my intestines, screaming "STOP, OR WE'LL START MAKING THE WALK HOME VERY AWKWARD!!!:

I stopped for a minute, and the feeling passed. It's funny, but at moments like that I am very grateful for having some experience with marathon training. Like my brother, I am generally very stubborn and don't like quitting in the middle of something, but had I pushed my self I very likely would have had to find a bathroom to go be miserable in for a half-hour.

I walked back about 100m, and restarted the run, finishing the 800m in 3:10. I then did the 600m in 2:15, and then absolutely decided to see how fast I could run the 400m. I pretty much ran all out for one lap, getting REALLY tired towards the end. My 400m time was 1:20, the equivalent of a 5:20 mile pace. There is absolutely NO possibility of me running a 5:20 mile in the near future, but at least I know my legs are capable of going that fast.

So, all in all, a great workout. I am feeling really light on my feet, and my turnover rate has improved so much through these speed workouts. I'm also finding that I seem to have a better sense of how hard I can push my body. In the middle of the 1000m run today, I felt like I was going about 5 seconds per lap too fast, so I just made a little mental adjustment and my legs followed... I slowed down ever so slightly, but my perceived effort was decreased by quite a bit.

Training is going amazingly well so far, but I have 2 BRUTAL runs ahead of me this week. On Thursday, a 7 mile LT run with 5 miles at a 7:44 pace... I'm treadmilling that one... and a 17 mile long run. Good lord.