Dragging Through Speedwork

The past few days I could not get my speedwork intervals workout in.  The training plan shows an 8 x 1200m workout on Monday - Monday I had to be in Virginia really early.  Tuesday morning I was feeling icky so opted out of my run.  So...this was the morning I was going to attempt the workout.

I thought about the workout a bit on Sunday night and again last night.  8 x 1200m with a 2 min recovery.   I decided that I would do a full 400m (once around the track) for my recovery since I probably wouldn't remember where I started each particular set of intervals if I changed it around too much.  I started to figure out the time it would take me to do this, and YIKES!  this would be an 8 mile speed workout (9 miles if I added a warmup and cooldown).  That would be a full hour and a half.

And 1200m intervals?  3 times around the track at a fast speed?  Huh???

Needless to say - I was a bit freaked out about this workout.

I got out to the track at 5:30am.  I drove there - I didn't want to add 3.25 miles roundtrip to this already hefty workout!  It was still dark when I started my 3/4 mile warmup and when I started my first interval.

I felt really sluggish.

I'm not sure if it was because I was fighting off a cold less than 24 hours prior (I'm feeling much better, but still some congestion...no more aches though), or because the last thing I ate was a double-scoop ice cream sundae from Carvel (no guilt on that one...it was my birthday!), or if it was because it was still really early.  Whatever it was, I had no confidence that I was going to be able to get through this entire workout.

I mean, 1200 meters is a LONG distance for an interval!

My first two intervals were at the speed that I was hoping to be at - 6:14 and 6:06.  However, towards the end of the second interval, I started to get some tightness in my hamstring.  I also was already pretty wiped out - again, I was probably more fatigued since I was not at my healthiest or most rested.  I decided to stop after the interval was over and I stretched a bit.

When I started back up, I decided to go a bit slower.  I kept thinking "8 x 1200???  That must have been a typo!  I mean, this is a training plan for a 5K for crying out loud!!!".  The next two intervals I ran in 6:43 and 6:53.  By the end of that fourth interval I had convinced myself that there was no way I was running eight of these.  Maybe six - definitely NOT eight.

I went out for one more interval - in 6:33 - and I was really wiped out.  I decided to call it quits and run a half mile recovery.

All in all, I ran 6 miles.  Not bad for a mid-week workout (heck, my long run during week 1 was 6 miles).  It was not the 9 that I intended to do at the start.  On the other hand, I was out there running - unlike so many others who were still in their beds asleep - so I tried not to get too down on myself.

Of course, when I got home I found the Runner's World that I copied the training plan out of.  Sure enough, I made a typo when putting it into Excel.  The workout was supposed to be 6 x 1200 - not 8 x 1200.  I should have pushed myself to do just one more interval.  Oh well...