10 x 800 expectations

Yesterday evening after work, I drove up to Bradley Middle School Track for my 10 x 800 workout. I  had purposely pushed this workout into the evening so I would be running in the warmest and most humid part of the day. I wish I could say that I was disappointed, and the weather was super nice. But it wasn’t.

The temperature wasn’t unbearable. It was just in the mid 80s, but it didn’t take long to work up a good lather of perspiration during my warm up miles.

My legs felt “good” throughout my 2 mile warm up on grass and then through the 8 x 200 meter sprints still on grass.

However, the second my shoes touched the track, and I was ready to start the 800s; my legs felt dead. No real explanation could be found. It was simply like a light switch went from “on” to “off”.

I had targeted them to be run in 2:50. The first one was just above. The next few were just under. But it didn’t feel right. I should not be struggling this much. The rest of the workout, I bounced above or below 2:50 except for the last 2. These took the greatest effort.

Once I finished my cool down run, I went back to car to change and then went out for a walk. Even if the workout didn’t feel the greatest, I could not let this change how I do my cool down. Tomorrow is another day, and there is another run. Just because today’s run didn’t match my expectations and I really wanted to just go home, preparation for tomorrow’s run starts at the ending of the previous workout.

As much as it pains me to say this, putting in a workout that isn’t the greatest is better than putting in no workout at all.

Have you run today?

 

Sharing one thought at time,

The Cool Down Runner