5 Grand Workout

A few spotty storms came through last night and actually left it feeling semi-pleasant outside. I got to the track at 7:15am and it was only 75 degrees and cloudy! Of course, my warm-up mile reminded me that it was still humid and I spent the workout sweating buckets... but it's still an improvement over yesterday.

Today was 5 x 1,000m and the workout went pretty well. I made it through all but one interval before the track got a little crowded with the high school kids. They've been very gracious about leaving a lane open for me to use though. Excellent track etiquette!

1,000m is two and a half laps around the track. Long enough that my pace for each interval isn't back-breaking, but also short enough that I'm not out for a jog. Today's intervals were a little faster than I can sustain over an actual 5k, but the pace was close enough to my actual Race Pace that I kept daydreaming about having someone running off of my outside shoulder, chasing me to the finish line. I'm sure part of the reason races were creeping into my head is because I'm still in that special 'post-race window' following Sunday's tri.

I mentioned in Monday's post that I start Jonesing for a new race withing hours of finishing a big event. The craving hits especially hard if I didn't reach a goal I was shooting for. Part of the addiction is what I talked about yesterday... races remind me of how fun running is and when I finish a race, I want more.

Part of it is also the frustration of coming up short on a goal. I've felt the strongest desire to jump into a new race following marathons that I felt I was in shape for but something kept me from hitting the time I wanted. I missed 3:10 in Cincinnati by 4 minutes and it was pouring rain for the first half of the race. I missed 3:10 by 11 minutes in Chicago last year and it was HOT. Both times, I worked for so long and really thought I was in sub-3:10 shape. So after the race, I thought, "Why wait and start training all over again? Why not just find a marathon I can run two weeks from now and have another go in better weather?" (Incidentally, my friend, Paul, felt this same frustration after missing his goal in the Chicago heat... He ran another marathon a month later and set his goal PR!)

Unfortunately, marathons are expensive and usually require travel plans, so I haven't caved in to the craving yet. But you can bet that after a big race, I'm online checking race calendars for the next big event.

Apparently, this is a common effect. The day after we finished New Town, Liz was searching for more triathlons to do this summer. Anthony, (from http://www.twogomers.com/) talked about the same desire following his marathon in Minneapolis last month. I guess I'm not alone in my addiction!

Wednesday
Goal For The Day: Speedwork.
Distance: 5.10 Miles.
Time: 5 x 1000m. (3:26, 3:25, 3:26, 3:26, 3:24).
Route: Eureka H.S. Track
Conditions: 75 degrees/cloudy/humid. 7:15AM.

Notes: 1 Mile wam-up. 5 x 1000m. 1 Mile cool-down. Goal was 3:26 each. It was tough making myself start the first interval. Settled in and it was a pretty even effort throughout. I tended to fall off the pace by a few seconds and had to make it up in the last 200m of each interval. Could have been more consistent.

Daily Miles: 5.10 Miles.
Blog Totals:
  Run - 89.21 Miles.
  Bike - 62.51 Miles.
  Swim - 3,700+ meters.