More Intervals on the Track

Ten days ago, I ran a bunch of 200s on the track (which flared up an old injury). I got the injury under control last week, and then I felt good enough to hit the track again on Friday for some 400s. Unlike the 200s the week before, I started these RUNNING up to the line - I didn't want to over-stress my legs by trying to sprint up to speed from a dead stop (I got that workout in the week before during the 200s), so I ran up to the line trying to be "at pace" when I crossed the start line.

8x400 with 60 sec rest between looks like this.

Just like when I did this workout 4 years ago, my first one was a bit slow at 75.4 secs. That's JUST slower than 5:00/mile pace, and sub-5 is my goal for the 1 mile race in just under 2 weeks. But then (again, just like 4 years ago), I kept that one as my slowest and ran my fastest one as #2 at 71.7 secs. Four years ago, I kept the final 6 at 73 seconds, but this time I had 2 faster at 72 sec, 1 slower at 74 sec, and then the rest at 73. (So a bit more "random" this time.) My 3rd interval felt not great, and I was hurting by the 4th. At that point, I was just really happy to finish all 8!

1:15.4
1:11.7
1:12.2
1:12.6
1:13.0
1:14.1
1:13.2
1:13.4

1:13.20 / 400 average

This isn't "official," but I'd glance at my Garmin at the 200 meter mark, and it was 0:35 for the first 5, and then 0:36 for the last 3 when I was really hurting. And overall, this workout averaged exactly 1/2 sec FASTER than when I did the same series of intervals 4 years ago.

You can see in my pace graph that I stopped walking around before the last 2. POOPED.


A selfie after #8.

As you can see by that last pic, this workout was a bit later in the morning, and I hated the warm sun. The 200s the week before was an hour earlier, and the sun stayed behind the athletic buildings. But for this workout, I was taking my rest in the sun, which I'm NOT A FAN OF DOING.

Alright, hopefully 1 more shorter track workout later this week before the big 1-mile race in just under 2 weeks!!