1600 TT

Well last night was our annual 1600 meter time trial on the track. Being that my focus is on the marathon I wasn't particularly amped for this one. If I felt good I thought I might be able to run 5:05ish. Last year I ran 5:17 and followed that up with 5:20 at Case this spring. Dreams of sub 5 obviously dance in your head, but reality for me right now is shy of where those dreams would like it to be, for now.

The weather actually played nice last night. First workout in what seems like months that I did not end looking like I jumped in the lake. But my throat was dry, so I bummed a piece of gum off NC so I would not feel thirsty during the mile.

We warmed up, did some strides, and watched half of the group get in their time trial before starting into ours.

I just wanted to run off effort, try not to get hung up on the splits, and try to make it an honest mile. I figured if I was between 75 and 80 each split that would be a good night. We took off from the second lane, when we cut in I was shocked to see the guys in the outside lanes already far ahead of us and briefly wondered if we had cut in too early, but turns out they are just that darn fast :) First lap I managed to get around TR and came through in 74. Next lap worked my way around one more guy in 2:31. Then I was in no mans land. Definitely feeling it, but I did my best to keep my effort up. I could hear heavy breathing behind me and just tried to focus on my effort. Shortly before finishing the 3rd lap GH caught me and coach and he urged me to go with him which got me out of my third lap slump (somewhere around 3:53) and back into the game. Unfortunately GH had to pull up around 150 into the lap so I did my best to focus on NC who was far ahead of me and reel her in just a little bit. Crossed in 5:10.76. Second PR of the year for me (Ah how different things can be one year to the next, from PRs in every race to struggling to stay near your previous level!). Ironically my only PRs this year are now in the 3000 meters (admittedly still a soft PR) and now the 1600 meter. Basically two events that are not really my thing. While I have done better in each race than I did last year, I am still a bit behind my amazing fall times, so it is nice to notch a PR, even if it is in a 1600 meter time trial! Good news is this weekend I should be shattering my currently very soft 10 mile PR.

The lungs definitely felt the effort last night. I've been holding allergies or a cold at bay for a few weeks now with runny nose and sore throat, and my throat and lungs were ragged after the mile.

But with a 10 or so minute recovery I was able to follow up the time trial with our prescribed 12*200s with 200 jogs. All in 38-40. Basically just working on foot speed. Still not a fan of 200s. They take forever with the rests and for some reason to me they just don't feel like a real workout, though they usually whoop my butt.

My left foot definitely was angry about all the speed last night so I will be icing and stretching and rolling and hopefully will keep it at bay until a massage Friday night!