Frosty Four Hundreds

Track day today, and it was a chilly 30 degrees when I got there at 7:30 this morning. The track and football field were completely white - a veritable winter wonderland. I had smartly decided to wear gloves and a long sleeved shirt vs the usual singlet. But there was no wind, and the sun was slowly rising over the trees, so not really too bad when you consider the crap people put up with elsewhere in the world this time of year!

Took a couple miles to warmup, and by the time I was ready to go about half the track was in teh sun and there was a little warmth, but it was still cold out there. Goal was 10x400 under 1:20 with about 2 minutes recovery. I figured a 45 second walk followed by a 1:15 jog would be about 300 meters, so that was the plan.

1. tried to run a steady relaxed 400, not looking at the watch. 1:21.7, felt pretty easy
2. need to go a little quicker, 1:18.1. still feeling ok
3. 1:16.3. ok, getting a little too fast, and definitely more of an effort.
4. try to slow this one down, and got a 1:19.3 - still feeling alright
5. 1:18.6 for the halfway point. now it is starting to feel like a workout
6. 1:20.6 - lost some focus and had to push the last 100 to get an ok time.
7. focus on pace, hit 1:20 exactly. unpleasant, thinking that 8 is probably enough for today
8. Ouch - 1:22.1. no way I can bail out with that one. gotta do one more....
9. 1:17.2 - much better. so decided i may as well do #10
10. 1:20.2 for a solid finish

Overall average was 1:19.4, which is exactly 5:20 pace and what I was shooting for. Recovery started at 2:00 and crept up to about 2:20. Heartrate was pretty flat, with each run hitting a max of 175-177. It was still cold at the end, and had only climbed to 35 degrees when I got back to the car. Definitely happy to have been wearing the gloves.

There's a low key, uncertified 5K this weekend in San Francisco, and since I'll be up there on Sunday morning anyway I will be using that as a pacing practice to see if I can start a race at the correct pace, and then not slow down in mile 2.

Then the week after it's the mile and 5k combination. Looks like the mile course is fast, and the 5K isn't, so I will be going all out in the mile, and won't worry about saving anything for the 5K. I have never raced a mile so have no idea what to expect except for unpleasantness.