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I decided to stick with Missouri Running Company's track workouts for a while. Last week felt really good and it was fun running with a group so I came back for more tonight.

(University City High School Track.)

It was hard to tell, but it seemed like there were about the same number of people this week as last week. I think some people weren't able to make it this week and some new people joined us but it must have balanced out.

We broke up into three groups again and my group was a little different this week. Two of the three guys I ran with last week were there and we gained a new guy and a new girl. We did the prescribed warm-up and then got to work.

Last week was 12 x 400 meters. This week was the same overall distance, but in longer chunks... 8 x 600 meters. We were given a goal time of 2 minutes per interval with a one-minute rest between intervals. 600 meters is a lap and a half so we walked diagonally across the infield after each interval to get back to the starting line.

After the first interval, another coach asked our coach how long he was giving us for breaks. When he said 1 minute, the other coach was a little shocked that it was so short. Our coach ended up extending our breaks to 1:20. (Which was good because a minute was just long enough to walk back to the starting line.)

The first couple of intervals went fairly smoothly. I was still feeling confident after last week's workout. Then, during #3, I realized this pace was actually faster than last week's even though we were running longer intervals. Last week, our goal was adjusted after some grumbling to run 400 meters in 1:25 instead of the original goal of 1:20. (We averaged between 1:21 and 1:23.) That would put us at 600 meters in 2:07-2:08. This week, our coach took us back to the original, faster pace without us thinking about it. To run an even 600 meters in 2:00 means crossing 400 meters in 1:20. In the middle of the third interval, I did this math and began to doubt my ability to run 5 more intervals at this pace.

Sure enough, intervals 3 and 4 were on pace but 5 and 6 started to drop to last week's pace. Number 7 was even slower and then I recovered some on number 8. Two of the guys in my group kept closer to today's goal pace and really pulled me along. Otherwise, I probably would have fallen off even more.

I think yesterday's long run affected today's workout. I should have gone with Friday's plan of switching my long run to Saturday and having a recovery day on Sunday. Lesson learned.

Monday
Goal For The Day: Speedwork.
Distance: 5.00 Miles.
Time: 8 x 600m (1:59, 2:00, 1:58, 2:00, 2:07, 2:06, 2:11, 2:07).
Route: U City H.S. Track.
Conditions: 68 degrees. 6:30PM.

Notes: At least it wasn't as hot. It felt mercifully cool tonight but the humidity still had me drenched.

Daily Miles: 5.00 Miles.
2012 Totals:
  Run - 331.18 Miles.
  Bike - 0.00 Miles.
  Swim - 7,450 meters.