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SEHS grind mile + 4x 500-200s with CA

November 19, 2015 (Afternoon)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: "Cold tropical": 58F, 98% humidity

Comments:
Weird weather day: "fake cold" out. It looked cold, but was nearly 60 and so humid that it felt hot. Jogged south to meet CA, then easy jog to SEHS. Felt pretty tired but otherwise fine on the warm-up.

Did some drills with CA, trying to get her (us) to use feet and hips better. In the end, I think she did better than I did.

Jogged to the bark, did x4 short strides, and did a grind mile. My watch didn't capture the split, but CA wasn't far behind me and split 6:10(!). HR got high quick, so it was a bit of a cheat, but I didn't go over 170 for very long.

Jogged to the track, then got after the 500-200. I always forget how TOUGH this workout is. Basically mile-3K pace, then 800 (or basically all-out) pace for the 2. My watch isn't yet programmed to see lap splits easy, so I wasn't tracking splits very well on the 5s. The first couple were slow; the 2s were pretty dang good.

CA and I weren't running together, but we were helping each other out. She told me about 190243x to "lean forward". Ugh. Turns out that I wasn't using my feet well. It's tough for me to both pawback well (SO huge for hip power) AND do a strong foot push. But it's the foot push that's so clutch for staying forward.

Here's what I think I did well:

- Trunk arch (T-L, to get hip power behind)
- Pawback

Fairly well:
- whole foot strike
- knee drive
- heel recovery behind and beneawth

Not so well:
- active foot push-off
- forward engagement

When I "activated" the feet, my last 500 was much faster. And it turns out, I was well-focsed on the 5s, but I'd lose it and "Forget" on the 2s.

Good workout, but it was TOUGH with the humidity. Definitely borderline asthma, so it was good we were doing short ints.

Splits (HR), rest, split, rest

97.3 (170), 45, 33.2, 3:31
97.9 (171), 51, 33.2, 3:19
96.1 (173), 56, 33.3, 3:27
93.5 (183), 55, 33.2 -----

Solid workout. Splits are on par - slightly better than when we did it in the summer: when she and I ran the first bits together, and it was warm and dry!

The gold standard from May 2013 was doing these in 87(!)-90 and low 30s (but again, I think the Suunto slow-splits the super-fast 2s!).

Jogged easy back to work.

Didn't feel super-strong today, but...it was good work. It seems like EVERY run I do, now, I am confident it will go well. Maybe not FAST, but I'll be strong and efficient. This is HUGE, because I haven't felt like this since 2013.

PM: 11-month anniversary! I did a workout + clean-up at home, then we made tacos together and had a couple good beers, then "anniversafritters" with an impromptu "Race for the Soul" viewing!