September 14, 2006

The track workouts associated with this fall's marathon training plan are no cakewalk. These are actually tougher than many of the track sessions we did this summer to prepare for shorter races. John Womack and Bill Bishop joined me in this morning's sufferfest.

The workout called for a 10 minute warm-up and then:

1200 at 5K pace -25 seconds per mile
1000 at 5K pace -27 seconds per mile
800 at 5K pace -30 seconds per mile
600 at 5K pace -35 seconds per mile
400 at 5K pace -40 seconds per mile
200 at 5K pace -45 seconds per mile

Here are my splts, with the heart rate and the end of each interval:
1200 -- 4:49 172 (target was 4:44)
1000 -- 4:01 172 (target was 3:55)
800 -- 3:12 172 (target was 3:07)
600 -- 2:21 175 (target was 2:18)
400 -- 1:28 173 (target was 1:31)
200 -- :33 170 (target was :45)

I made only 2 of the 6 targets. Ouch. We wrapped up the workout with a 1-mile cooldown.

I'm not sure how doing track 2 days after a long run will work in this schedule, but we'll see. At least there is a rest day sandwiched in the middle. The other glimmer of hope is the cooler temperatures in the fall will make these easier.

Next week calls for 5x1000 after a 20-mile run two days before. Looking forward to that. . .

UPDATE: I forgot to provide the nifty wristband generator I created to help keep track of the splits. Figuring out the various paces and slits at 6AM were not my idea of a good time. Be sure to laminate both sides of the paper with scotch tape.