The Kid is Back

Time: ~65 mins
Distance: 10.13 miles

W/u: 22:33 for 3.00 miles
W/o: 25 x 400 on a 2:00 interval
C/d: 17:09 for 1.88 miles

I needed redemption after last week's 400 workout. I opted out of a workout yesterday because I thought an extra day of rest would do the calves good. The Queens team was running there fabled 25 x 400 meter workout on a 2 minute interval this afternoon and I thought that I would tag along. The 2 minute interval makes things interesting because the fast you run, the more rest you get. For instance, run 65 seconds, get 55 seconds rest.

We used a section of McAlpine just off the main path because it ends with a slight uphill on the way out. I wasn't looking to impress anyone today with my foot speed so I opted out of "hammering" some of the later intervals with some of the guys. My goal was to stay consistent and relaxed as possible. The group of guys broke up nicely to where I was running with Oscar, Nelson, Simon and Futsum for the majority of the workout. Devin was lurking just behind, but made his presence felt during the hammers and late in the workout.

The intervals started out quicker than they usually do based on the guys' reactions after the first 3. I hit splits of:
67.54 (50.90), 63.49 (58.28), 65.18 (54.64), 63.51 (56.37), 64.95 (55.35),
63.57 (55.90), 64.98 (55.05), 64.27 (56.03), 65.45 (54.30), 63.66 (56.32),
65.82 (53.93), 64.57 (55.20), 66.36 (54.32), 64.02 (56.13), 66.22 (53.93),
64.75 (55.45), 65.77 (53.90), 65.10 (55.41), 66.39 (52.65), 66.53 (54.87),
66.28 (52.90), 67.05 (53.00), 67.82 (51.43), 65.24 (54.58), 64.01 for 49:03 and 6.65 miles.
Avg = 65.30 sec.
Avg rest = 54.62 sec.

The workout is incredibly long and took a lot of focus. After each interval I found myself walking a little bit to shake out the legs and hoping that by 30 sec. I felt recovered enough to start running again. The countdown for the 2 min. interval would come pretty quickly and the group would jump off the line and get back at it. I'm pretty sure this is the most 400s I have ever run, surpassing the 20 I did earlier this summer. I'm not convinced the section of trail we were running was a complete 400 meters and would guess that it was 380-385, but this is not a complete science and the work we put it was solid.