AG Track 3 Hundos and Captain's Time Trial

Time: 49:23
Distance: 7.11 miles

W/u: 16:50 for 2.04 miles
W/o: 12 x 300m w/ 100m jog. 300s in 54 sec, 100s in 30s
C/d: 16:43 for 2.07 miles

This afternoon I got an email from the Captain who was looking to take to the track for his bi-weekly 400m throw down. He knows that I sometimes workout at the AG track on the evenings at the end of the week and it just so happened that I was planning on doing some 300s. Over on Tim Budic's blog, there is a running list of a 400m challenge that Paul is trying to inch up. I believe this was Paul's third attempt at the distance and first time running the 400m effort in the afternoon. I can't imagine trying to hammer a 400m time trial at 5:30 in the morning like Paul has been doing. It's also no wonder that he had not managed to break 60 seconds.

We met up in the parking lot and went on a short warm up around the island that is Alexander Graham Middle School, Selwyn Elementary and Myers Park High School. It was pretty warm out and we didn't need much time on the feet to get ready for our respective workouts. Once we got back to the track, I prepped my legs for my workout while Paul ran a few strides. I had run a big long in the morning and I wasn't sure how the body was going to respond to the speed. On paper, the workout shouldn't be that tough with the goal being 54 seconds (~4:50 pace). It's the 100m brisk jog in 30 seconds that takes its toll later in the laps. I used to get crushed by Owen Washburn (I'd link to his blog if it were still legit) who was an absolute stud at this specific workout. I remember hearing how he once took it to Leo Manzano on a workout similar down in Texas. It wasn't that Owen would crush you on the 300s, rather he would press the pace on the recovery so that you were only getting 22-25 seconds rest each lap. Today's goal was to just run fast and comfortable with some pace changes, nothing too taxing. If done correctly I would run 3 miles in 16:48.

First up was Captain who got off the line well and pressed down the backstretch. Before his time trial I told him about Michael Johnson's 4 P's of the 400. Each 100m he would focus on these four concepts: power, pace, position, pray. It didn't look like Captain was praying the last 100m, but he was fighting to the line and clicked the watch to see a "5" for the first time in a few years. He had cracked a minute and I would refer you back to the 400m challenge link to see the official time.

I was up next and prepared to hit my splits. As I mentioned during the warm up, it was pretty hot, but luckily I would be getting a bit of a break after less than a minute of hard running. I kept clicking off my splits and running the 100m section faster than necessary. I was recovery in 25-27 seconds and just kept the 3 miles constant. I started with 100m easy so that my last 300m would be the end of the day.

Splits:
(23.60), 51.56, (26.61), 53.67, (26.42), 53.77, (26.93), 52.17,
(26.40), 53.48, (27.62), 53.33, (25.97), 52.93, (26.07), 52.75,
(27.10), 53.23, (27.39), 53.84, (26.62), 53.73, (26.32), 45.91 for 15:47 total and 3 miles

I was very pleased when going back through my splits. I managed to average right around 5:15 pace for the 3 miles. How many of us in Charlotte could run 3 miles in under 16:00 without the pace change? Maybe I'll race the next 5k in such a way. I finished up with two more miles around the tri school island and called it a day.