miles of trials

today was one of those workouts that you always dread going into and come out the other side feeling a whole lot better than when you started. the plan was to do 4 x 1600 @ 7:05 with 800 meter jog recovery. however as i learn more and more every year about myself, the times i want to run aren't the same as the times i'm "supposed" to run...and thus my times are almost always faster than my goal pace...its been this way since high school. i remember senior year my cc coach telling me that if i could race the way i practiced, i'd be on varsity for sure, because no matter what time i was projected to run, i basically always ran with the 5th or 6th varsity runners. yeah, i'm just weird. anyway, the actual workout of the day ended up being:
1 mile warmup
4 x 1600 @ 6:54, 6:56, 6:47, 6:31 [!!!] w/ 800 m jog recovery
1 mile cooldown
yeah, your guess is as good as mine where i pulled a 6:31 out of on the last interval. clearly i'm capable of running a lot faster miles than i think i am. and i'm amazed that my times didn't get worse at all, with the exception of the 2 second dip on the second one, but whatever, i took 9 seconds off on the third. my basic thought process was just: get into a pace, and then STEADY...that was my word of the day. it was also the first time i've run without headphones in awhile [mostly because it was my first speed workout in awhile], but as a rule i usually don't run with headphones when i'm doing track workouts. so the soundtrack of my workout was the wind blowing, birds chirping, and about 30 4 year olds playing steal the bacon on the football field haha. the weather finally broke out of the insane heat wave we've been having and was like 66 and sunny...maybe not perfect summer conditions for laying at the beach, but just about perfect for a workout. it was tough, but not overwhelming, and i was so impressed with myself for keeping my times especially when i'm running by myself on this random crappy 6 lane track that hasn't been redone in years. but i kept thinking to myself: this is where champions are made...on random tracks where no one is watching but some lady walking around the track and lifting weights and its 11:32 am on a random thursday and you're doing mile repeats at 10-30 seconds under your goal pace not because anyone is making you, but because you want to and you can. great day. :)

and now i'm off to check out a new coffee shop by my house, work my little kids track meet later tonight, and then finally head down to summerfest for the jack's mannequin concert! hoorah.