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10k 10k 10k Friday Friday Friday
After much speculation, 10k race pace was revealed today. Earlier this morning, while I was working my shift at the gym, I nagged Coach into guessing my 10k pace. He hadn't looked yet because he didn't want to tell me! So he told me 7:10.
I got to practice this afternoon and found myself confronted with a slightly different time on my workout sheet. I had 2 x 1000m with a minute rest @ 10k race pace... 4:22. It took A. and I eight minutes of our warm-up run to convert our 1000m times to mile times, and then we flipped out. 10k race pace just dropped 10 seconds per mile... to 7:00. The 4 x 1600 I did @ 6:55 seemed so... hard... on Saturday.
Turns out, it wasn't. I ran the first 1000 in 4:21.94 (I'm AWESOME! You can't get much closer to perfect!). I came through 100m fast but had corrected by 200 and was perfectly on pace through 400. I ran the second 1000 in 4:18, coming through 100 and 200 perfect but under goal pace for the remaining 800. I was covering my stride, shoulders relaxed... and it was just easy.
Didn't I do 1000s on the grass in 4:22? Wasn't that a hard workout this fall?
I just checked my log... I did lactate threshold 1000s at 4:35 in September. Yikes. Old LT is 22 seconds per mile slower than 10k race pace, or 27 seconds faster per mile than I did lactate threshold MILES at on Saturday. The track adds some speed, but the improvement is evident.
Okay, so, moving on. After the 2 x 1000, A. and I got to take as much rest as we wanted. We jogged an 800. And then we got into the second half of our workout, 3 x 800 @ 5k race pace ... 3:24. I was like, Oh, that's the pace of my crappy indoor track 5ks, this won't last long. It's hard to shift gears when the gears you're shifting are so close together. I ran the first 800 in 3:25. The second two were 3:22. They were paced perfectly. In fact, they felt slow.
I found 5k race pace slow. SLOW! Hello, fitness, I missed you, baby. Why don't you stay here a while, I promise I'll treat you right...
I seriously feel great. I have a little bit of tendonitis in my toes on my left foot, but it only hurts when I walk barefoot - my orthotics correct it in my shoes (I gave myself tendonitis walking around barefoot over spring break, hah) - so the athletic trainer wisely advised me, "Just always wear shoes." It's been working. My right hip flexor hates me, but that's nothing new. Ever since my steeplechase experiment, my hip flexors have occasionally been grumpy. They didn't like Thursday's hard lift coupled with Saturday's workout and Sunday's long run in the woods, where I tried to hurdle a few fallen trees. The left one has come around but my right one is still cranky. I have been giving it lots of attention with the foam roller, though! It felt great through the workout, but after the workout, as I was giving my last two 800 splits to Coach and discussing the workout, it got super tight. It loosened up after about ten shaky steps, but it was a bit of a scare. I foam rolled it into oblivion in the training room, and it has been behaving ever since.
So that's where things are right now. I'm starting to get pumped. I keep getting reminded of how fast I've been running lately. I did run a 4 mile tempo on the roads averaging 7:05.5, which I think I could've sustained for two more miles. The track is faster than the road. And I'm gonna run smart, ease into the first mile, then pick up the effort and try to run a nice, clean negative split. Eeee I'm excited.
I got to practice this afternoon and found myself confronted with a slightly different time on my workout sheet. I had 2 x 1000m with a minute rest @ 10k race pace... 4:22. It took A. and I eight minutes of our warm-up run to convert our 1000m times to mile times, and then we flipped out. 10k race pace just dropped 10 seconds per mile... to 7:00. The 4 x 1600 I did @ 6:55 seemed so... hard... on Saturday.
Turns out, it wasn't. I ran the first 1000 in 4:21.94 (I'm AWESOME! You can't get much closer to perfect!). I came through 100m fast but had corrected by 200 and was perfectly on pace through 400. I ran the second 1000 in 4:18, coming through 100 and 200 perfect but under goal pace for the remaining 800. I was covering my stride, shoulders relaxed... and it was just easy.
Didn't I do 1000s on the grass in 4:22? Wasn't that a hard workout this fall?
I just checked my log... I did lactate threshold 1000s at 4:35 in September. Yikes. Old LT is 22 seconds per mile slower than 10k race pace, or 27 seconds faster per mile than I did lactate threshold MILES at on Saturday. The track adds some speed, but the improvement is evident.
Okay, so, moving on. After the 2 x 1000, A. and I got to take as much rest as we wanted. We jogged an 800. And then we got into the second half of our workout, 3 x 800 @ 5k race pace ... 3:24. I was like, Oh, that's the pace of my crappy indoor track 5ks, this won't last long. It's hard to shift gears when the gears you're shifting are so close together. I ran the first 800 in 3:25. The second two were 3:22. They were paced perfectly. In fact, they felt slow.
I found 5k race pace slow. SLOW! Hello, fitness, I missed you, baby. Why don't you stay here a while, I promise I'll treat you right...
I seriously feel great. I have a little bit of tendonitis in my toes on my left foot, but it only hurts when I walk barefoot - my orthotics correct it in my shoes (I gave myself tendonitis walking around barefoot over spring break, hah) - so the athletic trainer wisely advised me, "Just always wear shoes." It's been working. My right hip flexor hates me, but that's nothing new. Ever since my steeplechase experiment, my hip flexors have occasionally been grumpy. They didn't like Thursday's hard lift coupled with Saturday's workout and Sunday's long run in the woods, where I tried to hurdle a few fallen trees. The left one has come around but my right one is still cranky. I have been giving it lots of attention with the foam roller, though! It felt great through the workout, but after the workout, as I was giving my last two 800 splits to Coach and discussing the workout, it got super tight. It loosened up after about ten shaky steps, but it was a bit of a scare. I foam rolled it into oblivion in the training room, and it has been behaving ever since.
So that's where things are right now. I'm starting to get pumped. I keep getting reminded of how fast I've been running lately. I did run a 4 mile tempo on the roads averaging 7:05.5, which I think I could've sustained for two more miles. The track is faster than the road. And I'm gonna run smart, ease into the first mile, then pick up the effort and try to run a nice, clean negative split. Eeee I'm excited.
I think you're going to be AWESOME on Friday! It seems like the progress is coming pretty fast right now. That's some big jumps in pace since last fall. You're starting to make me nervous!
How does one get tendinitis in their toes? I'm trying to imagine this. Take care of yo-self.
And in the category of things you'll appreciate...Billy, the super fast kid on my team who I've taken underwing, ran the 3200 today, he asked me what I thought he could run, I said, probably 10:13-10:15. He went 10:13.8 and won by a lap. He probably could've gone faster though, I foresee sub 10 in the notsodistant future for him. It IS cool being so in-tuned with an athlete like that. I think, in a way,
Eeeeee Friday!!! I'm excited for you! I'll be happy to see my PR bettered considerably ;)
I think I stalled a bit with my shitty indoor 5ks, but ever since the breakout 3k, things have been clicking along without too much of a hitch. Yay! And it's absolutely crazy - I improved a lot this fall, despite having no summer mileage base because I was mad stress fractured.
It's in my four small toes, not my big toe, which makes sense. My extensor tendons are pissy. I didn't do anything to them.... I think because I wear orthotics in my shoes all the time, but I was walking around the house barefoot. They're doing well now - much less pissy. It wasn't even blogworthy, it's been such a small issue. I spend far more time pleading with my hip flexor to chill out. I am now blaming my IT band.
Eeeeee, nicely done! In a good invitational race, running smart, 10:00 doesn't stand a chance. Yay for being tuned in! It is REALLY neat.
I'm not nearly as SCARED anymore. I'm just ready to do the work, get it done, and run well! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!