Wednesday - 800m repeats

I was too wiped out to get up early and run before work so I got to enjoy another hot lunchtime workout. As I increase my miles, my body definitely needs more sleep and I could tell Wednesday morning wouldn't have been a good workout if I'd tried to do it then. The heat index was 99 when I did the workout which probably cost me a couple of seconds on each interval, but I still had a pretty good workout. I did a 3.5 mile warmup and drills and strides before starting the workout. The workout was 6 x 800 with 3 minutes recovery in between. When I put 16:30 in as my 5k time, the schedule told me I should be running them at 2:31 - 2:37. I wouldn't be able to run a 5k in that time in this weather, but I didn' t want my 800's to be too slow. Fortunately the section of the path I was running my 800's on was probably about 70% shade from trees. When I do these intervals, I don't want my first one to be the fastest and it usually takes me a little while to get settled into the right pace. I was slow at the halfway point of the first 800 and ran it in 2:39. I felt a little better on the pace on the 2nd 800 and ran 2:36 and I hit 2:34 on the 3rd. I only came in at 2:35 on the 4th and I was worried that I might start slowing down on all of the intervals. I was only about 1/2 a second slower, but I was definitely starting to work harder than on the first couple. I focused on the 5th 800 and was determined not to run it any slower and I finished strong the last 150 meters and came in at 2:33. The last one was tough, but once I got to about 200m left, I pretended it was the end of the race and I needed to kick it in to the finish and I finished with my fastest one at 2:31. I was pleased I was able to hit the times despite the ~100 degree heat index. After I finished I did a slow 1.5 mile cooldown back to the office.