Marblehead Track Workout (8 x 600m)

Time: 74:47
Distance: 17.19 km

W/u: 26:48 for 5.62 km
W/o: 8 x 600m in 1:45 (w/ 200m jog)
C/d: 23:59 for 5.17 km

I decided this morning that I wanted to hit the track for a workout geared to getting my legs accustomed to running close to 3:00/km. I knew the cold temps and breeze might slow the splits, but at this stage in the game anything faster than a normal run will benefit my speed development. Fortunately the truly cold temps (sub-30 degrees) stayed away and I was able to enjoy a balmy 33 degree morning. I wanted to run 8-10 intervals of 600m at or around 70 seconds through the 400. Nothing too crazy, but fast enough to elevate the heart rate and stress the system.

Splits:
1:45.52 (83), 1:47.79 (87), 1:46.93 (86), 1:48.60 (78), 1:48.29 (80), 1:48.34 (85), 1:48.74 (81), 1:46.18 for 24:00 total and ~6.40 km

Eh. My excuses: the cold, the wind and the fact that I was running in lane three. The truth: it wasn't that cold, it was windy, I tried to adjust for the longer turns.

I would feel great the first 200m when the wind was at my back and I was fresh. The middle 200m was tough as I battled the breeze and tried to maintain a consistent effort. The final 200m should have been more comfortable due to the wind, but I found myself sitting down in my stride. I usually feel strong and powerful, up on my toes when closing an interval, but today I was sinking the final straight. I found it hard to drive my knee up through propulsion. Regardless, I was able to keep the rest relatively consistent without completely wrecking the body.