Closing Out 2009

Time: 74:07
Distance: 11.30 miles

W/u: 20:52 for 2.80 miles
W/0: 1k, 1 mile, 1k, 1 mile, 1k, 1 mile, 1k
C/d: 23:42 for 2.84 miles

Meagan was itching to do a workout so I came up with something that would benefit the two of us. I figured that if she was going to do mile repeats, I could turn her intervals into my recovery. I just needed a distance to run hard in between her efforts. I haven't run repeat Ks in a while and today seemed like the perfect opportunity.

We warmed up to the San Diego High School track where we were once kicked off by Meb's high school coach. He's clearly done wonders for the program as currently the school has no track. When we were here a little over a year ago, the track was crappy but still surfaced. Now it's just crappy without a surface. The infield of the track is amazing as Field Turf did an amazing job outfitting the facility. However, some genius decided to get rid of the actual track. There is now just a 400 meter asphalt loop. No lines for distances, no lanes either.

We tried to make the most of the situation figuring it was like running on the roads except without traffic. I was going to be alternating between 1,000 meter repeats and 1 mile recovery intervals. Just before leaving the condo, Jeff sent me the next training block. I was doing some quick marathon pace calculations and learned that 5:30/mi is 2:24:12 pace and/or 3:25/k. Knowing this I hoped to run relaxed 3:25 kilometer repeats and pace Meagan on her 3 x mile workout. Splits:
3:13.26, 5:56,
3:04.13, 5:45,
3:03.48, 5:33,
2:56.57 for 29:33 and 5.66 miles. (5:13 average)

Great relaxed workout. I wasn't expecting to run a 3:13 opener which set the tone for the rest of the workout. The mile recovery efforts went well and Meagan dropped the pace accordingly. I can tell that the legs are very fresh because they had a bit of pop when I transitioned to sub-5 pace. This is an early workout for what is to come in the New Year. Very pleased to end 2009 with today's workout.