Track Fun – Saturday – July 17, 2021

How am I feeling today?

Pretty good. It is overcast, and a bit humid, but the body feels decent. Oddly, I am looking forward to the interval workout that is on tap for today. I had thought about changing it to tomorrow after I screwed up and did a bit too much yesterday. However, it is supposed to rain all day, and doing a track workout in the rain usually isn’t all that much fun.

Planned Workout Description:  

Type: 

• Intervals – 12 x 1:00 with 1:00 recovery.

Per Stryd: “1:00 Repeats at or above your 5k Goal Power are a fundamental and regular workout in the Stryd 5k Plan. After your recent 15:00 Time Trial your power targets may have shifted since the last time you did this workout. Your goal remains the same today: Practice running at 5k intensity or just above with a short rest between repeats. Make sure to stay in control the first two to four repeats to give yourself the ability to progress over the course of the workout. After your last repeat, run an easy cool down.”

Today’s Running Focus

• Do it

Why am I doing this run?

Intervals are a part of re-teaching the old body to run faster than it has been. No, I am not that fast compared to most runners and have no illusions of what I can do as a runner at my age. I still like to run faster and feel like I am running towards more than “just” running. While I have been doing strides and some tempo work, 12 reps are taking the speed work to a different level and are necessary if I want to race well (for me) this Fall. Intervals on the track are part of the process.

What I Actually Did Today: 

Warm-up

• Split Avg Power Target Range
• S:1 – 18:00 208W 163 – 186 W

Run/Recover

• Split Avg Power Target Range
• x12 – 1:00 264W 247 – 270 W
• 1:00 168W 116 – 163 W

Cooldown

• Split Avg Power Target Range
• S:26 – 18:00 191W 151 – 175 W

Unplanned

• Split Avg Power
• S:27 – 1:15 194W

6.51 miles

The biggest thing that I am not sure of about this workout is the extended warm-up and cool-down. I am not used to running this far before starting a track workout and then this long after the workout portion is over seems a bit much. Yes, I know that it probably add an extra couple of miles onto my total, but I also think that it lowers the quality of the intervals at this point in my running journey. I understand the theory, but in practice, I wonder how much it hurts or helps?

Did the workout go as planned?

When I first got there, my plan was to stop after 6 intervals and change into my Reebok RunFast v1s for the rest of the workout. Didn’t happen. When I got to the sixth one, I felt tired and knew if I stopped, there was a pretty good chance that I wouldn’t get started again, so I decided to stick with the Carbon x1s and walk a little after each fast interval. I want the speedwork to be quality work, and the recovery sections I don’t worry about pace in this kind of workout. It is more important to be ready to run a fast interval than to run a quicker recovery.

I attempted to stick to the plan and for the most part I did. Yes, I worked hard, but I always had a bit more to give if I had really wanted to. I stayed close to the target power numbers. I worked on pacing for the duration of the interval repeats. Versus my usual start off too fast, slow in the middle, then speed up again towards the end, the wonder “U” shaped interval that I run so well. I still had a few of them, but not as bad as usual.

When I took my shirt off to change it, I was able to wring a bit of sweat out of it.

What did I learn today?

Just because I am doing speedwork doesn’t mean that I must make a max effort on each repeat. Today I ran controlled and within the target power range that the Stryd plan had for me. 

Yes, it was a challenging workout, and while I could have run faster, I would not have run as well and suffered a lot more on the final four intervals if I had. This was a very high-quality workout where I did what I was supposed to, got to run a little faster than usual, and had a bit of fun in the process. It was my first actual track session of the year, and I have to admit it was good to get back on the track.

This was also the first time I have run at Messalonskee since they put in the new track, 5-6 years ago. It was good a good choice. The track is excellent, no one else was running, and it compares well with any other track in the area. I’ll be back.

Injuries/Niggles:

There were no issues with the left Achilles until the last two laps when it started to get a little grumpy. Otherwise, everything felt pretty good.

Weather: 71°F, Feels like 71°F, Humidity 68%, Wind 5mph from N

Shoes: Hoka Carbon x1 – No issues. They felt great on the track and had a nice feel underfoot with just enough pop to make things interesting.