I'm currently in taper mode for Uwharrie right now so I'm not putting a lot of mileage on this week or next, but the little bit of mileage I am getting in I want to be quality. So today, I decided since all the trails were covered in fresh snow, I would go for a little run on the indoor track here on campus. The plan was just to run a lot of slow 9 min pace laps around the track with a few 400m spurts at 10k pace just to get the legs used to some turnover. But I also had a mission for today's run. Run a mile under 6 minutes, my previous timed mile PR (I may have run a faster mile before, but it definitely wasn't timed and it was probably on a downhill section of road or trail). I know what your thinking, "a mile under 6 min is easy". It may be for someone that is training for that distance, but not for a guy that has been running long distance ever since he started running and has never even really tried to run a fast mile.
The plan was to run the first 800M in 3:00 flat and then run the second half in 2:55. I was taking it relatively easy at first and when I got to the halfway point, I looked down at my watch and saw 3:08! My first thought was, "there is no way I'm going to get under 6 minutes now", but I just started busting it out anyway. I was constantly looking at my watch just hoping I would make up the time some how. With just under 200m left, I looked down and had 30 seconds to get to the finish. I threw it into another gear I didn't even knew I had and crossed the line in 5:58! I managed to beat both my mile PR and 800m PR by 2 seconds (previous 800m - 2:52).
After today's workout, I think I have a new appreciation for the track and will probably start incorporating it into the training schedule at least bi-monthly. I really think this is about as much as I'll want to do, I just love the trails too much to sacrifice more time to running around in circles for an hour. As well, I'm going to set a mile goal this year for a 5:40, maybe even a 5:30 if the track workouts start showing some really solid gains. Looking forward to the Sultan 50k+ this weekend, although I'm only running half(16.5m). I'll have a report for you on that next time.
I take it the ASU track is clear then?
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new PRs... get out there every week for 6 weeks and see the floor drop out from those times!
I actually did this run on the indoor track in the SRC. I might get some more track workouts in after Uwharrie, but nothing in before then. Any suggestions for a good track workout for an ultra runner?
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