Getting back on track

This weekend, I finally got back on track... Saturday I ran my first workout of the year on the track.

I warmed up for 2 miles, picking up the pace as I progressed.  then stopped once I got to the track for a couple minutes of light stretching and mental focusing.  

Then the workout:  4 X 400m with 200m recovery, 1 X 800m with 400m recovery, then 6 X 400m.

The plan was 6 minute pace (or ~90s 400s).  I nailed my pacing pretty darn good at the beginning and was able to drop the pace slightly for the 2nd half of the workout.  Original plan was 12 X 400 but I decided to combine laps 5 & 6 for an 800.  Considered combining laps 11 and 12 but was tired enough by the end that I figured I'd be better off keeping them at 400s.  

Was happy that I was able to complete the whole workout as planned and hold the pace.  Still getting used to running that fast but it doesn't take too long for me to adapt.  

Finished the cooldown section way too fast and stopped it too soon, just to keep the average pace for the entire workout under 7 min miles.  This was my 4th time under 7 minute pace is 12 days (since not running that fast since Thanksgiving where I just barely eeked a 5 miler at 6:59.4.

My right groin, hip, quad, hamstring, ITB has been a bit aggravated since last Saturday but it's starting to feel better.  Hopefully just a natural adjustment to the faster pacing.  Natalie was kind enough to massage my leg on Saturday and Sunday and I believe it helped!

Sunday I ran an easy 12 miler at 8:29 pace.  The pacing really felt good and I kept the HR in the 130s pretty much.  Now that I'm working harder I need to remember to keep the easy stuff easy.  This was the easiest 12 miles I ran in a long time and took almost nothing out of me... a nice feeling, especially coming off a hard Thursday and Saturday.

45 hard minutes on the bike today.  12.3111 cal/minute was the hardest I've gone this year.  Followed that up with sets of 16, 16, 16, 15 at 135 on the bench sandwiched between 2 sets of 20 push ups... later that hour I did 2 more sets of 50 push ups and 3 sets of 12 pulls ups.

2021 GOALS PROGRESS UPDATE:

1. 10,000 pushups:  3160/on pace for 17214... getting more benching in too to keep it interesting.  

2. 7500 10,000 pulls ups:  2024/on pace for 11026...  Had a good weekend of pull ups and have been consistent for over a week which is building up the pace. 

3. 26 Hours on the Bike: At 15:12 and have been hitting the bike twice a week for the last 6 weeks

4. 2021 miles:  434.35.32... 63 miles ahead of pace.  Currently on pace for 2366 miles for the year.  3rd 40+ week in a row plus biking