Wednesday - Speed Workout

I've been completely swamped at work but it should be easing up by this weekend, but I made plans to go running at lunch and make sure I got a workout in. My schedule called for 3 x 2000m with 4:30 rest between each one. I was contemplating just putting in 6 - 8 miles, but I decided that I needed to get a hard workout in after Monday's workout that didn't go quite so well. I checked the weather before I headed down to the locker room and it said that it was 88 degrees out and the heat index was 94. Note to self: Do hard workouts inside on the treadmill when heat index is above 90. I stepped outside and it was hot and muggy. I probably should have just done easy miles in that weather, but I decided that I needed to work on my mental toughness and do hard workouts in tough conditions. I ran a two mile warmup in about 14:30 and did some drills and strides. I stopped to stretch and was just dripping in sweat. I planned my route where I would finish each 2k near a drinking fountain and I could get water. My schedule had initially given me a goal time of 6:20 - 6:28 or something like that, but I knew i had no chance of hitting a time like that in these conditions so I decided that I would try for 5:20/mile pace which would be 80 second quarters and finish in 6:40. While I was warming up there was a little cloud cover, but when I got ready to start the workout the sun came out.

I started out and hit my first qtr in 81 seconds. I managed to keep knocking out about 81 second quarters and finished in 6:44 which was about 5:24 pace. The last qtr of it was pretty tough but I knew I only had a little farther to go. The rest flew by and I started my 2nd one. I hit the first qtr and looked at my watch and it was 82 seconds, but I didn't feel like I had a lot in me to pick it up. I hit the half mile in 2:47 and 1200 in 4:12. At this point I decided that I needed to pick up the pace so I figured I would just go as hard as I could for the next 400 and then see what I could finish in. I managed 77 qtr and managed to go through the mile in 5:29. I ran an 81 second last qtr and finished in 6:50 and thought I was going to die. I was so dead and dry heaving at the end of the 2nd 2000 I decided to call it a workout at that point and jog back in. I probably would have been above 7:15 if I would have even been able to finish it. I did a 2 mile cooldown at about 8:30 pace. As I was slowly jogging in under the blistering sun, I had not so fond flashbacks to the 2007 Chicago marathon where the weather was pretty bad. The weather was just too nasty today to get a good speed workout in outside. My project will be finished later this week so I should be able to get back to more consistent running.