Hot track action
June 3rd, 2009 by lunaman
Cor blimey, I wonder if this gets easier.
[picture right: garish Brooks T Racer 5 shoe for racing - as yet unused!]
4pm at the track yesterday for only my second ever track session was mighty hot and shadeless. I managed the required 5 x 800m but nowhere near scheduled FIRST pace.
I knew anyway I wouldn’t reach the optimistic 2’30 required per 800m (5 minute miling!), but these are the splits:
- 2:40 (5’20 per mile) – good
- 2:50 (5’40) – tired
- 2:56 (5’54) – make it stop
- 3:06 (6’14) – poured cold water down my back for some relief
- 3:06 (6’14) – actually feeling better
Each with 400m jogs in between.
Rubbish, but god it was hard. The first 400 I think I actually did at the right pace, but quickly slackened off. I suffered really bad stomach cramps when I finished too, but a bar of peanut brittle and some crisps sorted me out 
Jack Daniels and most other schedules have my sort of ability runner doing 800m intervals in 3:00 (6 minute miling), and I probably could have kept that consistent five times. I thought the FIRST schedules were hard last week, and have just confirmed it again.
Just out of interest the world record is a staggering 1:41.
Having run 800m reps for the first time in my life, I have renewed respect for the speed these runners must go at. I’d love to watch a professional athletics meet some time.
Not surprisingly there weren’t many other people around at 4pm – just a girl practising stepping over hurdles, which I also don’t think I could do, my legs are so stiff!
Tags: 800m, intervals, repetitions, track