½ a workout but a good one

Jogged slowing away from Ben and Megan's house this morning and headed for the PDS track. Ever had that feeling in the pit of your stomach that leaves you wondering if you can do something or not, that's how I felt heading for the PDS track.

My hamstring draws up in knots pretty much anytime that I try to run hard on it. Therefore agreeing to join Megan for some intervals probably isn't the best way to make it recover faster.

On the other hand, maybe I would survive it.

Megan had about 10 miles of intervals planned which I knew was way too much for me. So I agreed to do ½ of each one. I would run the first half of each interval. She would continue on to finish it out. 5 miles in intervals was still probably too much for me, but at least I was getting extra recovery time between each. I would continue running but at a slower pace and then run the recovery with her.

Megan was doing 2 x 2 mi, 4 x 1 mi, and 4 x 800. I ran 2 x 1 mi., 4 x 800, and then 4 x 400.

The workout went pretty well for both of us. She was ahead of her target times on all of the intervals and I was just happy to be able to complete a workout and still be able to walk and not limp away. 2 weeks ago, I couldn't even finish the workout. I was moral support only.

Today was much different. Because I was only doing ½ of the interval, I was totally recovered before the next one and Advil was doing its job by masking most of the hamstring ache. I could tell, however, toward the end that the effort and the mileage were starting to add up for Megan. She would finish the interval and bend over – putting her hands on knees. Running 10 miles progressively faster was taking a lot out of her. But never once did I hear her complain about it. We would finish the recovery interval and go right into the next hard interval.

For myself, I am keeping my fingers crossed that things continue along on the same path and in another two weeks, my hamstring will be even better.

 

 

Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner