Track Tuesday

I do okay on getting mileage in... I do okay at longer steady state session at a sub 7 pace... I'll occasionally get in threshold work in the 6:15 to 6:30 range (something else I need more of)... but the fastest stuff... not so much.  I rarely even get strides in even though I know I should because my legs often feel *flat* and tight to a point that it seems like strides would be detrimental... maybe that part is more mental than anything? 

Today was the first day of a new experiment... a plan to hit the track once a week for the next 8 weeks. If I'm scant on anything in my current training regiment it's fast, top end, aerobic running.  I'm hardly ever running anything at low 6 minute to sub 6 minute pace except for when I race.  

The weather was perfect at 48 degrees for today's plan... 6X800 at ~5:45 pace (2:52 800s).  

After about 2 miles of warm up (7:19, 7:19) around Brimfield I was ready to go.  Stopped my watch and took my time prepping with some extra leg swings and mental preparation.  Then I toed the line and was off.  

A few extra notes:

Mostly ran by feel the whole time.  I knew what the splits should be at each 200m mark but I rarely actually to check my watch and when I did, I was pretty much on pace and didn't really adjust.

Focused a lot on standing tall, working but not over working my arms, and just staying relaxed.  I could feel my form breaking down a bit on the last 2 intervals but tried to correct once I was conscious of it.  

Went to the arms in the last 100m of most sets.  I picked up the pace some but that wasn't the goal.  Mostly just trying to run strong through the whole interval and not allow myself break down the last 10 meters.

Ran with music the first 3 laps until it became too distracting.

Lots of focus on being relaxed and running with a good rhythm and not having to dig too deep.  Especially tried to cruise on the straight-aways.

My HR got into the 170s peaking at 174.  I suppose if I ran longer it would climb more but HR wasn't really the limiting factor.  

My legs were the limiting factor and I could feel the lactic acid build.  But was able to minimize this feeling by changing my focus away from my legs.  This allowed me to run more smoothly too I think.  

Hoping that if I keep up this work, eventually I'll be able to run faster and get my HR up even more.

Thinking 400 repeats for next week...