I woke up excited about the workout today. It was a later wakeup, compared to a normal weekend practice, because we were starting at 10 and not the usual 9:30am (in the morning every minute of extra sleep counts!). The workout was 20 x 200-metres in sets of 5 with 1 minute recovery and 3 minutes between sets. I was motivated, this is a workout I know I can do and I know I can do well. Especially compared to a workout involving repeat anything-longer-than-400-metres something I find so much more challenging to my always developing aerobic system. I love repeat 200's, you're only running for 30-ish seconds at a time. Yes, I know there's less recovery but no matter how painful the running is at least it's over relatively quickly.
My plantar has been sore as I sit here rolling out my calf and foot with a lacrosse ball. As a result I was forced to leave my beloved spikes, my spikes that make me feel light and fast, behind. I'll admit being spikeless is like throwing some of my confidence in the garbage. Rob describes runners on a wet track like wearing rubber boots. He's right, normally when I'm having a tired day I tell myself that once I put on the spikes I'll feel better. Today I didn't have that motivational kick, like it or not, I was making myself wear my rubber boots for the whole practice. Good thing I was looking forward to it!
20 reps is a good chance to work on the mental strength. I could have predicted how I was going to feel. The first set of 5 feels hard as you begin to develop a rhythm, I told myself to be aware of this so I wouldn't worry about the 15 more reps I had to finish when I already felt tired. My quads were really stiff during the first set due to the 90 minute elliptical session I had the day before. I should have realized this foreign machine was really only targeting the quad area for an hour and a half and obviously this would leave me completely fatigued. However, I was unable to go for a long run and I had to work aerobically somehow. The elliptical was my best option because it works my arms and legs. I also had to go longer because a 70-minute run doesn't equal a 70-minute elliptical: hence 90 minutes (longest continuous session ever). Anyways back to practice, finished the first set like a robot with 31's across the board. I was much more relaxed in the second set, I told myself I would be, as I developed a rhythm and finished in 30-31's. I knew the third set would start to feel really hard especially by the third 200 and I knew if I ran at the same intensity as earlier in the workout my times would be slower. I told myself to race and push it because as I fatigued running was going to feel harder if I wanted to hit the same times (of course I didn't want to slow down). So that's what I did, I pushed it hard and told myself not to think about the next set until I was running the next set! Again I finished my 200's in 31's but it sure required a lot more effort. The fourth set was a even harder. I was basically thinking I have five more and it's time to run them with everything I have left. At this point I didn't think about pace I just tried to frekin' run. I was a bit slower over the last 5 finishing in mostly 32's with a few 31's.
I'm happy with today. I thought I would be slower with my foot wear, a wet track and exhausted quads (I realize this is not positive thinking but I just thought I was being realistic). This is a big improvement from the last time we did this workout back in January! Today I learned again that it's so important to go out a bit harder that you think you can, take risks, and wait for the fatigue to come. I've been realizing that usually it comes on at relatively the same time during the workout and only slightly more intense than when you begin conservative.
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