Feeling Cautious

Today was my first day back at the track for speedwork. Coincidentally, it was Eureka High School's first day back at school. I wasn't sure how the parking situation would work now that the kids are back so I thought it was safer to just run there and back instead of driving. It's about 2 miles each way so it doubles my warm-up and cool-down which isn't such a bad thing.

My legs are still more sore than they would be if I hadn't taken two weeks off. I'm also a little nervous about causing problems with my back again. So I went into today's workout planning to adjust it as needed to avoid injury.

I decided to just pick up the speedwork schedule where I left off so today was supposed to be a 'Step-Up' workout. 2 x 400m, 2 x 800m, and 2 x 1200m. It's tough hitting the goal time for the 400's in this plan on a good day so I knew I should shoot for 1:15 each instead of 1:10 each. But I was hoping the 800's and 1200's would be okay as planned. They weren't.

I had an effort range in mind and I didn't want to exceed it. That way, I could feel confident that I wasn't going to hurt myself. I figure I can always pick up the pace next week if this week goes well. Staying in that effort range meant missing my goal times on every interval. Not by a lot... only a few seconds each time, but still not quite on target. The goal paces are slightly slower as the intervals get longer but by the last interval, I was pretty worn out.

I started the last 1200m interval and it felt horrible so I stopped about 150m in. I walked the rest of the lap and took a jogging start into another attempt at it. I hit the 200m mark right on pace that time but it still felt awful to I bailed out. Mentally, it hurt to cut the workout short by one interval, but physically, I wasn't going to gain anything by running a sloppy, painful final interval. I figured it was better safe than sorry and headed home.

For my first day back at the track, things went pretty well. My back hasn't bothered me all day, so it seems like the speedwork didn't make anything worse. I think the extra cool-down I got from jogging home helped keep things loose. Tomorrow morning, I'll see the PT and hopefully put my back behind me... so to speak.

Wednesday
Goal For The Day: Speedwork.
Distance: 6.65 Miles.
Time: 2 x 400m (1:14, 1:13), 2 x 800m (2:46, 2:47), 1 x 1200m (4:23).
Route: Eureka H.S. Track.
Conditions: 76 degrees/humid but cloudy. 7:15AM.

Notes: Goals were: 400's in 1:10-1:15, 800's in 2:45, and 1200's in 4:20. When it was just me and the sports teams at the track, I was okay with shedding my shirt for my workouts. But now that school is in session and there are a dozen classrooms overlooking the track, I couldn't bring myself to ditch my shirt. Thankfully, it was cloudy most of the time so it didn't get too hot, but it was humid and I was hating my shirt late in the workout. Mental note: They close and lock the gate to keep cars out of the track area once school starts so I have to go the back way out... adds about 1/4 mile to the run home. 2..07 miles to the track. 2.33 miles home.

Daily Miles: 6.65 Miles.
Blog Totals:
  Run - 179.87 Miles.
  Bike - 98.53 Miles.
  Swim - 7,200+ meters.