November 7th, 2008
Some days you got it, some days you don’t, some days you’re just a big fat whiner. I had my 5x1000s today which magically morphed into 4x1000s and 2x400s.
It was one of those self-flagellation workouts where I berated my assumption that 7:15 goal pace was a good idea. After the second one I told myself 7:20s would be fine, but you know when you say that to yourself, it never really is.
After the 4th one, I was going to pack it in because by that time I was soaked with sweat and grouchy as all get out but then I felt incredibly guilty for contemplating quitting, so I went ahead and started the last interval, got almost halfway, decided to bail, then after a few yards of guilty walking, changed my mind to save it – thus, the 2×400. Slogged home for 6.5 miles total.
All in all, it was still an effective workout despite the whining, and I feel pretty good now. Depending where I look (SportTracks or Garmin TC), I either averaged 7:17 or 7:20 pace – a worthy deposit in the speed bank. Saving those pennies…
Posted in Running
You’ve just described pretty much every speed session I’ve ever done. They all follow the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross trajectory of emotions:
- Anger (“Why can’t I run faster?”)
- Denial (“I just need to warm up a little.”)
- Bargaining (“7:20s will be fine. Juuuust fine.”)
- Depression (*sigh*)
- Acceptance (“I’ll do what I can today and try again next week.”)
I don’t think I’ve ever actually managed to do a session as planned, either in number of intervals or the speed at which they are run. There’s usually a lot of swearing involved too.
Know why I don’t race 5Ks? Because I can’t run fast for shit. A 5K race just makes me feel like a total loser, because I’m racing against a bunch of skinny bitches who actually train for shorter distances.
Anyway, any effort on the track is worthy of admiration, so go you! But that’s probably because I hate the track so much that I’d rather have urine-soaked punji spikes shoved under my fingernails than endure a speed intervals session.
They are tough, especially if you are doing them alone.
Still, look at your times, they are pretty racey!
Julie, I absolutely love you. The Kubler-Ross guide is fucking hilarious. It cheers a gal up immensely to know that you, Zoomy Wunderkind, often has less than rainbow happy interval sessions. Whew!
I don’t do mine on a track, which is another handy excuse-whine when I’m in the midst of them, “I’d be faster if I did them on a flat track, waaaaah” ignoring for the moment that for every inch up, I get to go an inch down, which totally negates my faux argument. I had a few more in mind, too, “I just raced a 10K, maybe I’m not recovered completely” “It’s 62 degrees and 84% humidity, where’d the Fall weather go?” blah blah blah, ’tis what it is.
Flyers, thanks cutie. I’m just looking forward to next week when I can try again, but with 1/2 mile intervals plus a tempo run, so there’s potential for redemption and more speed banking to come.
You cannt wuss out when your running for me!! Dont let me do that again, especially when your doing the running.
But seriously I hope to actually run sunday. Tomorrow might be possible, but decided to give it an extra day.
Yay Bruce, not too bad a layoff considering you had purple toes! Good for you giving it extra time, that’s hard to do, I know.
My Tuesday speed workout didn’t happen. Hopefully, I will get it in tomorrow. Usually, I dread going to the track. Once I’m there, I feel good. When I’m done, I feel even better.
Good luck getting it done, Charlie.
Tracks scare me! I went to the one at U of Penn, that famous one where they hold the relays. I thought I was flying and was on cloud 9 afterwards, “wow, running on a track really makes a huge difference!” Then I learned that their track measurements are completely screwy, I think their 5th lane is equivalent to a regular track’s inner lane. Now I have a bad attitude when it comes to tracks. I need to get over that someday.
yes, outer track lanes are longer! hence the staggered starts on the track.
Also, dnt worry too much about your times, you are technically still recovering from your marathon!
Hey, that’s an ass kicking interval session anyone, let alone someone still in the marathon recovery phase.
More deposits in the bank!
Doggie, I know outer track lanes are longer but Franklin Field is an honest-to-god, sized differently track. Wcrunner explained it to me back then:
“The Franklin Field track at UPenn is really weird. LANE 5 is the correct lane to run 400m intervals in (or multiples as 1600m to approximate a mile). Lanes 1-4 are short of 400m and are used only when the first curve or first lap needs to be run in lanes as in relays.”
Thanks Kazz, every penny counts!