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UWRF indoor track workout with CA

December 22, 2015 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
We slept in a fair amount - like 8:30 - but couldn't much later. CA left MSP at 1:50, so the clock was ticking.

I slept OK, and wasn't too stressed out upon waking. Mom heard from Eva: Steve, intending to drive back to his house, 3 hours east, stopped an hour away to stay the night. He was safe.

A quick breakfast, than CA and I took a car to the indoor track at UW-RF.

I LOVE the indoor track...at least at this point, when they're so rare for me. At a time of year that - at best - is cold, damp and breezy, the indoor track is always 70F and calm! And because it's a small (200m) loop, you always feel like you're flying!

We checked in, dropped off our stuff, then went outside for a long warm-up. The university is doing extensive construction on something at the athletic complex, effectively ruining the start of my long-time 5K loop, so we had to amend the standard warm-up a bit.

It had snowed a dusting inch, but it wasn't too slick. Ran easy around campus and back, nearly 4 miles.

Once inside, we stripped down to shorts and Ts, and did a couple more laps of drills and strides.

The track is open to the public (for a fee), so it rotates the direction of travel. Today? Clockwise! I'd anticipated this, but - even when the young woman offered to reverse it for us, knowing we were working out - I declined! Knowing I'm "shifted left", I wanted the burden of having to lean right!

And I think it worked in my favor!

The workout: repeat 400s. I did this workout during Christmas 2011: also in a high-mileage, pre-Bandera period. I'd ran pretty well there:

71.5
72.0
72.0
71.8
72.3
72.8

I had those splits in mind, and told CA I wanted to run 71-72s. She's still easing into things, and agreed to pace-set for the first 200.

I annoyingly forgot my normal watch, so I had to use the Suunto on the indoor setting...which would not show current lap - except for like 3s, after hitting it. So I relied entirely on her to set the pace for these.

But I wasn't too worked up about it. The idea was to run sustainably, and only take what was there. Force nothing.

I neslted behind CA and we jogged into the first one. It felt SUPER-easy and I simply focused on her backside (lols) and let her drag me through. She pulled off at the lap, then I kept going: an extra spring in my step going into the second lap.

Heavy but simple form-focus today:

- relaxed but strong whole foot
- push straight behind with that foot
- "Anton arms" shoulder blades back (tough with fatigue)
- good "fast guy" posture, overall

Dang, it felt great! Rolled through the first one feeling good and certain I was slow. I was NOT! Split like a 70-low! Wow.

We jogged a lap in-between with a bit of stand-around rest. Total rest amounted to about 2:30, which was a TON, but felt great.

And so it went! Callie led, it felt SUPER easy - almost like I was JOGGING - then I gave it just a little push! And each one was either 70 or 71! WOW.

I thought I'd do 8, tops, in two sets, but we just kept going. For fun, CA threw in a whole 400m on the 4th. After 5, I committed to two more. After yet another 70, I asked her to "push it a bit" on the 200, so I could go negative on the final rep.

Even on that one, where I gave it a nice push, I didn't feel like I was going all-out or straining - which is often the case when we do 200s. But hot damn, I was actually FAST! The suunto splits:

70.1
70.9
70.5
70.8
70.2
70.7
67.9!!! (thought this was 67.7, but data says otherwise)

On the last one, CA said she was "slow" (like only 35.x), which means, I ran a 32-low for the second and final lap of the workout.

DAMN good workout! Not just because times were respectable, but because of how EASY it felt. This is like OLD times: 2013, and well before. SO GOOD!

Once we finished, it was like 11AM! F! We jogged a lap indoors, then grabbed our stuff, ran it to the car, then jogged about a mile outside before driving home.

As is our talent, CA rapidly showered (she'd already packed) while I made "express eggs". We were in the car, with Americanos, by 12. Dropped her off at the airport at 12:50.

Flying HIGH after that workout. SO pumped! Wore the Boston Boosts, no inserts. Good shoe for light track work.

PM: post-airport, I immediately went to meet Travis, one of my oldest friends, for lunch in MPLS. Met at a cool new brewery in South MPLS and had a beer and a sandwich. Good to check in with him.

Tried to touch base with some other folks, but no one was biting, so I drove home.