Track Tuesday

After two tiring workouts on Monday my body was pretty tired yesterday. In fact, it still is. I went to yoga yesterday morning and had a track workout scheduled for last night. My legs felt so sluggish just walking around my house that I was really doubting my ability to do any kind of workout. The track is located right by my normal running trail so I figured I would give the workout a shot and if my legs weren't having it then I would do an easy run on the trail. I drank a bottle of nuun, charged up my ipod, and was on my way.

When I got to the track the first thing I saw was a pickup game of soccer being played on the field inside the track. I debated whether to just go the trail then but wanted to at least give the workout a shot. Since my legs weren't feeling in prime condition I opted for more of a sprinting workout with short sprints and long recoveries.

1 mile warm up
4x
400 sprint, 800 recovery

My warm up mile felt comfortable but was noticeably slower than normal. My legs didn't feel too bad so the workout was on. I tried to remind myself that the goal was to push myself even if my times were slower than normal. It was incredibly hot outside too which didn't help.

I was shocked with how this workout turned out. My legs showed up ready to run fast last night and that is exactly what they did. I contemplated skipping the workout because I thought my legs were tired but clearly that was not the case. It's funny how the mind can trick us into thinking we are less capable than we really are.

I did this same workout back in June when my legs were feeling fresh. Here's those splits vs. last night's splits:

June 20
1:52 (7:09), 1:44 (6:59), 1:40 (6:40)
I forgot to hit lap after the second repeat so I don't have that split. My best pace during the entire run was 6:24

July 17
1:40 (6:46), 1:38 (6:23), 1:36 (6:22), 1:36 (6:26), fastest pace 5:59

My first repeat last night was the same at my fastest repeat the first time! Makes me wonder what I could on fresh legs. I want to take a quick second to brag about seeing a pace sub-6:00 for the first time as well. Never something I thought was possible.