Addicted to Exercise

This morning I was just so happy to be able to breathe normally, and it sure made running feel easy.  I headed out early again to get my pre-warm-up warm-up in, and that was good.  My legs feel great.  Then I ran with the group over to AHS for some 800s.  Gilbert said not to go crazy or anything, and he told me I should only do six and at about 3 minutes per interval.  It really felt good.  I felt like I could have just kept going.  He told me I could run faster on the last one, and I did, and that was the best-feeling one all day.  I wanted to go do it again, but he said I was done.  My times were: 3:03, 3:02, 2:59, 3:00, 3:00, 2:42.  I did the cool-down run back and then a few balance drills, and that was it for the day.  I really had fun out there, and my heart rate was so low today from the warm-up through the cool-down I could hardly believe when I looked at the results.  That whole being able to breathe must make a huge difference!

This morning we had the reverse ladder workout again at the track.  I really like this one because it seems to get easier as we go, even though the pace speeds up a lot.  Gilbert had given me some pace targets yesterday, and my mission for today was just to hit them.  I arrived a little bit early and did an extra 15 minutes of warming up, and then I headed over to AHS with the group.  My first interval was a bit slower than I wanted, but after that I was warm and feeling good.  I didn’t feel quite as smooth as I wanted to be overall, but that might have been because of all the miles I did yesterday.  It still felt much better than it used to.

• 2000m - 7:49
• 2000m - 7:32
• 1000m - 3:36
• 1000m - 3:33
• 1000m - 3:34
• 400m - 78
• 400m - 81
• 400m - 80
• 400m - 78

I’m really happy with those, and I was pretty tired at the end of it.   Gilbert suggested taking the long way back for some extra cool-down.  With that, I ended up with well over 11 miles for the day.  My legs feel pretty good now.  I did some stretching afterwards, and I’ll do some more later.

Last night, one of my friends had a little holiday party, and not only did I mess up my nutrition plan pretty well, but I also spent hours there playing drums on this new Rock Band video game and drinking beer.  It was pretty awesome, but my feet were actually pretty worn out afterwards from working the kick pedal.  So, I wasn’t quite sure how I’d feel for the run today.  I did have plenty of water when I got home, though, and I know that helped.
It turned out to be kind of a strange morning.  There was a thick fog, and it was hard to see much during the warm-up.  I arrived about 15 minutes early like I had been doing to get a little more warm-up.  That really seems to be helping since by the time we get to the workout I’m ready to go instead of still warming up on the first interval or two.  At the track, the fog started to go away as we did our drills, but we noticed some strange temperature spots.  It was generally warmer outside, but there were a few pockets around the track where it was really, really cold.  I don’t know what to make of that.

Anyway, Gilbert told me the time he wanted me to do, and it was faster than he’d ever told me to go on these before.  I was a little apprehensive at first, considering my preparation, but I took off and did them anyway.  I had a strong group to run with, and we took the first interval a little easy and picked it up from there.  I just focused on being smooth and graceful, and I didn’t really worry about the speed.  It was there, though.  I felt strong through the whole thing, and I picked up the pace on the last lap.  Amazingly, I knew I could have gone even faster, but I held back a bit to keep things smooth and totally under control.  My times were my fastest set of these ever: 2:59, 2:49, 2:51, 2:49, 2:46, 2:47, 2:46, 2:38.  I recall Gilbert even yelling out something about my form being good, so that’s a good sign, too.

I felt fine on the cool-down run back, did a few stretches, and that was it for the day.  I’m really happy with this one, and I’m glad my legs are feeling this good.

I guess some days you just end up in the zone.

Like Tuesday, I arrived a little bit early to get a jump-start on the warm-up.  I ran about a mile and a half before I met the group.  Then we all headed over to AHS for the real workout.  I knew Gilbert was going to push me today on the 1000s, and I was ready to go for it.  My mind is a jumbled mess right now, and I knew this would be a good escape.

I took off with my usual group and jumped out in front.  I was surprised at how easy it felt.  It was like I was just gliding forward and my feet weren’t even touching the ground.  I finished that interval and Gilbert said that was too slow so I would have to speed up.  So I ran faster after that, and it still felt effortless.  I could tell that I was very smooth and totally in control.  I just picked it up a little bit on each one, and then Gilbert told me to run even faster on the last one.  I knew I had some more energy left, and I used it.  I felt like I was flying on that last one, and I still felt graceful and totally in control.  Gilbert even yelled out “good form” as I passed where he was standing.  That’s not something I hear every day, but maybe I should start.  I felt like doing some more laps, but that was it for today.  My times were: 3:47, 3:39, 3:37, 3:34, 3:34, 3:24.  That’s by far the fastest set of those I’ve ever done, and that last interval was off the charts compared to what I’ve done before.

I enjoyed the cool-down trip back to RunTex, did a few stretches, and left feeling really good.

This morning we returned to the track for 1200s.  I still felt a little tired from Tuesday, but I went anyway, of course.  It was dark again for the warm-up run and the drills, but I think we all made it.  For the intervals, I was a few steps behind my group, but I ran solid times.  I had: 4:42, 4:32, 4:28, 4:27, 4:31, 4:34.  I did a couple 200s to clean up after those, and I felt a little stiff doing that.  Fortunately, I knew I would have massage today and get it all fixed up.  I took the long way back to RunTex, so I ended up with about 9 miles for the day.  My heart rate was a little high across the board, so I will take my rest day seriously tomorrow.

This morning I was in for a bit of a rude awakening.  I hadn’t done any speed work in a few weeks, so naturally I just jumped right in with my group today.  Actually, I ran a few steps behind them for most of it, but I still had a good time.  It was the coolest it’s been all week this morning, but after the warm-up run over to AHS I felt, well, warmed up.  It was fun to do all the drills again.  It had been a few weeks on that, too.  For the 1000s, the first one was a bit slow as usual, but the rest were very consistent.  My group finished a few seconds ahead of me each time, but I think I was still a lot faster than the next group behind.  My times were right in the range Gilbert told us to run, anyway, and I had: 3:54, 3:39, 3:40, 3:38, 3:41, 3:40.   I felt a little more tired than normal, but that’s what I get for not practicing.  I’m happy with it.  I did the cool-down run back and a few stretches, and then I took off.

This morning we got to run 800s at AHS.  I always like these short intervals.  I arrived a minute or two late, and the group had already left for the track.  I got there with plenty of time to join the debate about where to do the drills.  There was another group in our usual spot, and the sprinklers were spraying part of the other side of the track.  We elected to find a section of the other side that the sprinklers weren’t covering and used that.

Gilbert arrived and gave us the pacing assignments, and soon we were off.  My group was supposed to do 3 minutes for each one, and we were pretty close.  I had: 3:02, 2:57, 3:01, 2:59, 2:59, 2:56.  It was amusing to watch people try to avoid the water.  It’s not like our clothes and shoes don’t get totally soggy with sweat anyway.  The really good thing is I felt pretty relaxed and balanced the whole time.  Gilbert confirmed that I looked that way, too, so I left happy.

We took the long way back to RunTex, and that was a nice change from the usual routine.  I felt really good through all this.  I am just glad I get to go outside and do this all the time.

This morning we had 1200s on the schedule.  That’s not a very common distance for intervals for me.  I was just happy to be out there and that my leg was feeling good, though.  It was really, really dark outside.  Only one thing sticks out in my mind from the warm-up and drills.  Today, Gilbert had us do the jog-50-sprint-50 thing for a lap instead of two 100-meter strides, and I overheard someone during that say something like they didn’t like that version as much because you had to run more.  I thought, hmmm, I’m glad I love running, otherwise I wouldn’t be out here at 6 in the morning doing all these crazy workouts!

For the intervals, I felt good.  I was surprisingly consistent for a workout where I never looked at my lap splits during the intervals.  My times were:4:33, 4:29, 4:27, 4:30, 4:32, 4:30.  It turns out those are a couple seconds slower than when I did this a couple months ago, but that time I didn’t do as many.  It was finally starting to get light by the time we finished, so that was nice for the way back.

There are a lot of new people in the group right now since the fall training season is starting.  I stuck around a little while and visited with some of them.  I remember when I first started with this group, and I felt pretty intimidated, so when I see new people with that same look about them I want to assure them they will do fine and remember the most important part: enjoy every minute of it!

On an unrelated note, the Chicago Marathon website has a video tour of the entire course, played at high speed.  They were playing this last year at the expo, and I enjoyed it then, so I’m happy to find it posted now.  It’s kind of like driving the course, but a lot faster.

This morning we did a reverse ladder workout at AHS. I really like this one. It seems to get easier as we progress because even though we speed up, the distances always seem to get shorter just in time. I felt sick yesterday morning, so I skipped my run in the morning and just did some exercises at night. So, today it was time to bounce back, and I did.

The warm-up was more interesting than usual because they are setting up for some big event at Auditorium Shores this weekend. So, there were bright lights on and a bunch of equipment in the area. Once we got to the track and finished the drills, Gilbert split us into groups.

I was content to just follow my group today, and we went pretty fast. I felt strong the whole time, and my movement was smooth. I really had a lot of fun. Here are the times:

• 2000m - 7:38
• 1000m - 3:39
• 1000m - 3:36
• 1000m - 3:40
• 1000m - 3:40
• 400m - 83
• 400m - 81
• 400m - 82
• 400m - 79

I had an appointment to reach, so I only did a couple stretches after running back to Riverside. I feel good about this one. I am right where I need to be.

This morning we did a fun little workout. After running over to AHS and warming up, we did sets of 600m/400m/200m for a while. This is really nice because each interval in the set gets shorter, so it seems to constantly get easier. This was the first time I’ve tried to run really fast since I got back from my trip, and I definitely started out a few steps slow. I felt better after the each set and finished really strong. My times aren’t as good as when we did this a couple months ago, but it was still a solid workout and a nice return to some fast turnover.

For the set of 600/400/200, I had:

• 2:20, 1:31, 47
• 2:09, 1:25, 42
• 2:10, 1:23, 41
• 2:07, 1:27, 42
• 2:05, 1:21, 38

I stretched a tiny bit after the run back, and that was it for the day. I wonder if I could have improved my times by running a sixth set. I feel really good now.