Track Workout

I woke up this morning at 10:30 am, having slept 11 hours last night and feeling like my little cold turned into a train running through my sinuses and head. After some oatmeal, tea, and a healthy dose of OTC cold medicine, I headed out for my scheduled track workout with less than stellar expectations.

I was suprised though, at how much better I felt after getting outside. Such a beautiful sunny day albeit cold and windy, but I was glad to be outside. The plan was originally run down to the Franklin Field track, run 4-6 800m lengths at 5k pace (3:40-3:45) with a slow 400m lap in between.

I ended up doing 1.1 mile warmup, 5-800m lengths with 400m slow lap between of about 3:00, and 1.1 mile warmdown. Here were my splits:
3:45
3:42
3:36 (several people randomly started cheering me on, hence the faster time)
3:39
3:43

I felt like I could have done a sixth, but since I am feeling a little under the weather, I stuck with 5.

If I can run all my splits faster than my goal pace on a day when I don't feel so hot, then I think I need to adjust my goal pace for these interval workouts. Perhaps 3:35-3:40 is more realistic, or challenging, depending on how you look at it.

Anyway, this was a great workout today, and I felt really good doing it, even though I haven't done a track workout in awhile. Total milage including my in-between slow laps was about 5.7 miles. Next week I will aim for 6- 800m at a slightly faster goal pace.