Wednesday Night Speed:  combo workout 3 mile tempo 5 x 300m

June 27th

The group posted this workout early so I knew it was another tempo.  Additionally I knew I did not want run this one on my own.  So instead of hoping and wishing someone from group 4 or 4A would show up I sent a little text to this gal:

Don’t worry it was actually quite warm in Seattle (clearly a winter pic).  Our temp actually hit 70ish which is like a heat wave here.  Seriously every morning as I drive into work my car says 52, there’s rain on my windshield and I try desperately to remember what month it is… June.  It’s June…?

She was game; heck yeah I won’t be alone!

Turns out we had a few more people trickle in as well.  Our group 4 was bursting at the seams with three, yes three whole people!

Pacing:

Group 3A	6:25	60
Group 4	6:42	61
Group 4A	6:52	62

Since I’d averaged 6:34′s for the 3.5 the previous week I figured I go with group 4 and we opted to stay on the track.

Can’t say my legs or lungs felt awesome for this one.  I was just tired.  We clicked off lap after lap which was nice.  I know we had 12 laps but I never look at it that way.  I take it mile by mile:  4 laps at a time.

We were a bit fast at first (95) but settled into 101, 100 but then back down to 95.  We were aiming for 101s.

Our group took turns changing the lead but honestly I was tired and the other two girls in my group were chatting so I figured was just having an off day.  I figure the first mile was around 6:32, a bit fast but I thought we’d settle down.

I just tucked in for the next 4 and tried to hold on:  96,99,96,96 for a 6:28.  Clearly there was no settling going on.

We were fast.

The pace didn’t feel impossible but I was tired.  Apparently it was my turn to lead the last mile.  I tried to breathlessly plead my case that I was running slower than they were therefore I shouldn’t lead but it was hard to fully convey my argument mid-temp.

So I took the lead.

Surprisingly things felt better in the lead: 98,97, 96,96 for a 6:28.  I also noticed both of my running partners were breathing just as hard as I was breathing.  This somehow made me feel better and gave me confidence.

We finished in 19:29 (6:29ish average).

But if you read the title of this post you know it’s a combo workout and we weren’t done.

12 minutes later we were lining up for some 300s.

Right.

The written goal was 61, but like last week I was just going to start and see how I felt (translation:  wow 61 seconds sounds really fast, I think these might be significantly slower).

65.  Yep.  That is not the same as 61.

It was hard.  One minute and thirty seconds later we were off again.

60, 59, 58, and 58.

They were hard, but you just keep running, and yes they were a bit fast.  Turns out I figured-out how to run the third 100.

I found the strength for a two-mile cool down that felt much better than the previous week’s one mile mess.

Welcome back track, and thank you for not killing me.

One more week of temps and then I think we might start seeing some repeats… just a hunch.  You really never know with Tom.

run pretty run fast