Thursday, June 19, 2008

Mile attempt #6

I debated whether or not to report this attempt for two reasons. 1) I had a different workout planned, and 2) it sucked.

I left the house planning to do 4 800s at 2:40 pace at the junior high track (which only seemed about 2 miles away). I wanted to do an easy warm up from the house. It turns out that the track was actually over 3 miles away. I had told Lani when I expected to be back based on my 2 mile estimate. By the time I got to the track, I knew I wouldn't have enough time to do my planned workout, so I thought "What the heck. Let's just do a mile."

After last weeks attempt, I had made a new plan. For my next attempt, I'd try to run the quarters in 1:20. That would give me mile time of 5:20, 5 seconds faster than my current best, and that much closer to my goal. I don't know what happened, but I started out way too fast. Maybe I was distracted by the guys driving their suped-up remote control cars across the track, but my first quarter was a 1:10. Whoa! About half way through the second lap, I began to realize just how big of a mistake that was.

Second lap - 1:25
Third lap - 1:34
Final lap - 1:31

Oh my. I was completely exhausted. It was getting hot, and I still had more than 3 miles to get back home. I hadn't realized how big those hills were when I was coming down them.

Things to remember for next time:

1. Make sure my warm-up is closer to 1 mile than 3.
2. Go earlier in the morning before it gets too hot.
3. Stick to the game plan - 1:20 quarters.
4. Don't stay up so late watching 24.

Stay tuned for attempt #7 (and a new PR).

3 comments:

Bill Carter said...

Hi Reid

I've totally done the same thing. I make these great plans and find that getting to where I actually plan to run is more than half the battle. Great splits though.

BTW, congrats on your great 10 miler. You really picked it up at the end and that is a great time.

Nitmos said...

Still an awesome time but I know you are trying to shave seconds now instead of 1/2 minutes. Very little margin for error.

Bob A said...

You'll get there. Don't you know that hills grow on the return trip -- it's a rule of distance running.