Before I went to bed last night I thought about what I would be doing on my run today. I have a meeting this afternoon so I had time to run in the morning. I managed to pump myself up for a quality run at the track. Of course that was before I went to sleep. When the morning light woke me up I didn’t quite feel as enthusiastic as I had the night before. The light looked gray outside beyond my curtains, but I didn’t hear any rain drops. A cup of coffee and half a Clif bar later I was at the precipice of procrastination. But my desire to run was just enough to get me going and I took off out the door radio in ear, gel in flask. Unfortunately I forgot my water. When I realized it I was two blocks away and it was just too far to go back. So I continued on.
I was going to track but I didn’t have any concrete plan as to what I would do there. I could run my usual straights and curves, but I sort of wanted to mix it up a bit. Plus I think it is time to push myself a bit at the track and do a harder workout (not that S&Cs are easy mind you.) It was between running 440 or 220 intervals. The 440s sounded appealing from a challenge standpoint, but the 220s also sounded good as they would be a little easier. Additionally I wanted to make sure I got at least eight miles in to keep me on my road to 40 for the week, though I am skeptical about that. I missed running Mon and Tues so I would need to do eight today, then again Sat and Sun. It will make for five days of running in a row, and six if I consider next week (if I missed another Monday then I’d be facing the same situation and I’d rather have a rest day toward the end of the week like Fri or Sat. So with all that to consider I decided on the 440s with a 220 recovery. I could do six intervals in nine laps if I pushed it and then make up the rest on a longer cool down run.
The first one saw my HR get up really high as I rounded the track at the end of the lap: 180+. I backed off a little on the second and kept it under that mark. But the third and fourth were all over 180. My recoveries brought my HR back down to 145 or so, so I felt really good about that. The fifth one was rough, I was starting to feel really beat and considered heading back home. But somehow I managed to convince myself that I could go one more time and I did. Phew, great day at the track! But I still had another 3-4 miles to go to get my miles in.
Just outside the track is Powell Blvd. a pretty busy road. I have to say I wasn’t disappointed when I didn’t make the light, a little reprieve was very welcome especially considering the two block hill that was waiting beyond. Slowly I reached the top and headed towards reed. I decided to skirt the campus and backtrack my usual route, the last part of which is once again up hill for several blocks. I broke off from campus and headed towards Berkley Park to make sure I got my eight in. Before I hit the park I realized that I would be going too far, so I veered east and was faced with once again another huge hill. It is one of the killers in my hill workout (which I haven’t done for a long time, but soon…) Once look at the last steep portion made me turn around and continue toward the park which would also have a hill though not as steep. I ended up compromising and once again turning east a block before the park. The hill was still tough, but not the monster from several blocks back. Off I went.
The rest of the run was pretty flat once I managed to get above the ridge separating Woodstock from East Moreland. I slowly trudged the last mile and was very happy to see my puppy’s expecting look at the window. She helped me stretch out by licking the sweat off of me. Great run! Next up an eight mile recovery. Or maybe less and then longer Sunday. 40 is still in the cards!