Track

 

I hit the track with Dan for the first in a series of 10 track workouts at the Hampshire Dome.  Hopefully I'll stay healthy enough to run these!  I normally only do 2 miles of total speed (like 4x800 or 8x400) but the workout that Gate City Striders had listed of 6x800 at 5km race pace sounded pretty good.  It'd be 2 more halfs than I'd normally do but at a pace 3-5 seconds slower than I'd normally aim for.  We tested out the big track (5 laps to the mile) doing a 3 mile warm-up and avoiding the single digit temps outside.  After another mile with strides we were ready to go.  Nearly 50 folks broke up into 5k & half-marathon groups and those groups broke into small sub-groups to make sure the two lane track wasn't too clogged.  Dan and I usually alternate so I took the first one.  Joe from GCS blew by at 400 as we hit the first one in 2:41.2.  He decided to stick with us and we'd alternate leading each half.  As Dan noted 'it is a lot easier when you only have to work on two of them, all the others you just hang on'.  We stayed pretty close to pace, or at least I did as Joe and Dan ran well under goal pace for the last couple.  I was pleased with the effort and I'm looking forward to some more fun on the indoor track.

 

Note: Our rest was 483m due to the unusual distance of the track, so that made the rest slightly longer than ideal but only by 20-30 seconds.

 

 

6x800	Hampshire Dome	with Dan
Interval	Rest
02:41.2	2:26
02:41.3	2:28
02:39.7	2:24
02:41.2	2:28
02:38.6	2:36
02:41.1	0:59