Return of the Installment Plan
Tuesday morning at the Bartram track has now become part of my weekly routine. I'm getting to recognize regulars that walk or run, I'm getting used to the cinders, and I've pretty much stopped wondering a) if the track is really 1600 meters; and b) how much more distance is added on due to the grass taking up most of what once was the first lane.
Reba signed us up for the Main Line 5k on Saturday up in Wayne. To "prep" (more on that in a minute) for that I did a 5k on the installment plan. That's 5x1000 (400m rec). The combined times of the five intervals give you a 5k time. That's the installment plan. A nice gimmick.
To get a sub 18 minute time I'd need to do the 1000m reps in under 3:36. Actual intervals went in 3:41; 3:34; 3:35; 3:37; 3:37 for a total time of 18:04. Just couldn't close those last few intervals this morning. Close enough to leave me with that feeling that had I only dug deeper I could have shaved off five seconds and been alot happier. That's one second per interval. But it didn't happen.
So, back to the prep. I don't know how much this morning's workout prepped me to run any faster on Saturday. Where the prep comes in is that I can now be more realistic about what I can run on Saturday and precludes whining and complaining about my time in Saturday's race report.
I still remember the race when I went under 18 minutes for the first time, a little race that snaked its way through Penn campus in what must have been 2000 or so, and it was huge for me. Then for the longest time I took sub 17-minute 5k times for granted and even came close (sooo close) to going under 16 minutes. And now I'm back to working my way down to under 18.
The parabola of life? I'm not ready to concede that yet, and cling to the possibility that with some more sustained training my speed will come back. I doubt that it will return to what it was, but I'm confident there is still plenty of room for improvement. Just need to sweat, to breathe heavy, and to hurt. It's the American way.
As I like to say, each time I walk off the track I learn something about myself.
9.5 miles totalling the warm up, cool down, recovery, and the actual running fast in 77:53.
Reba signed us up for the Main Line 5k on Saturday up in Wayne. To "prep" (more on that in a minute) for that I did a 5k on the installment plan. That's 5x1000 (400m rec). The combined times of the five intervals give you a 5k time. That's the installment plan. A nice gimmick.
To get a sub 18 minute time I'd need to do the 1000m reps in under 3:36. Actual intervals went in 3:41; 3:34; 3:35; 3:37; 3:37 for a total time of 18:04. Just couldn't close those last few intervals this morning. Close enough to leave me with that feeling that had I only dug deeper I could have shaved off five seconds and been alot happier. That's one second per interval. But it didn't happen.
So, back to the prep. I don't know how much this morning's workout prepped me to run any faster on Saturday. Where the prep comes in is that I can now be more realistic about what I can run on Saturday and precludes whining and complaining about my time in Saturday's race report.
I still remember the race when I went under 18 minutes for the first time, a little race that snaked its way through Penn campus in what must have been 2000 or so, and it was huge for me. Then for the longest time I took sub 17-minute 5k times for granted and even came close (sooo close) to going under 16 minutes. And now I'm back to working my way down to under 18.
The parabola of life? I'm not ready to concede that yet, and cling to the possibility that with some more sustained training my speed will come back. I doubt that it will return to what it was, but I'm confident there is still plenty of room for improvement. Just need to sweat, to breathe heavy, and to hurt. It's the American way.
As I like to say, each time I walk off the track I learn something about myself.
9.5 miles totalling the warm up, cool down, recovery, and the actual running fast in 77:53.
posted by seebo | 8:43 AM
1 Comments:
It seems the Seebo training machine is nearing high gear. I'm happy to see it.
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