Nice hard speedwork workout

Ahhh, the wonderful speedwork morning. And good morning to you as well. Start off with a pleasant walk for the dog. Then a little warm up jog, just over a mile. Ok, over one and a quarter miles. Then the torture. This was a 4x800 workout. On the first run around the block, I started off feeling pretty good and strong. In fact, about all the way around with that pace I thought that I felt pretty good. I started getting tired by the end, but I pushed through it. Even that first jog wasn't too bad. Then I ran around again. Nope, didn't quite die that time, so I ran around again. Died that time, but my body kept going. By the last time ... well, you get the picture. Yes, I ran 4x my own brand of 800's. Each lap was 0.54 mi, which turns out to be 869 meters. My times for each speed unit were 3:32, 3:36, 3:39 & 3:42 (see the tiring trend?) The goal time was 3:29. And because I'm an engineer, my times "normalized" to the 800 distance were 3:15, 3:19, 3:21 & 3:24. But who really cares? It was a HARD workout!

Ok, I'm not complaining. Actually, I pushed myself the whole way. I did it without the help of music, ever since I read that safety article on not using headphones when running on the road. I talked myself all the way through the last lap. And after my cooldowns and my shower and even breakfast, I felt the soreness in my legs and it all felt good. But at the time? I hurt. But I'm glad that I did it. I am rather impressed that I can run long runs at an easy pace that is faster than what is recommended and still not feel so bad after it is all done. But for the hard work? I'm glad that it is hard. I am anticipating what it will do for me. I am anticipating a series of 5k's in the next couple of months in which I will attempt to prove that last month's PR was not a fluke. And I am really anticipating the 500 Mini, just 9 months away. I want to build up my strength and stamina, and I want to keep it up through the winter.

Oh, and last night was the first time for me on the second job. It was good. Hopefully it won't drain my energy too much when I wake up early for these runs. Looks like my Wed wake up times might have to be even earlier once school starts. That will be a major bummer. But I've done it before. And so I keep plodding on ......