20 minute run this morning was followed by, wait for it, four sets of 400’s! Yeah buddy.
Between the 20 minutes and the four 400’s, I didn’t really know what to do with myself. I have a strict protocol for drills, limited to what the physio gave me for my first two weeks up here as part of “operation hip adaptation.” Generally, when I’m doing 400’s, I have 15 minutes of drills, stretches, strides, etc. And here I was going straight into them from an easy run.
This was was I was thinking until I remembered that these weren’t really “400’s” as I know them. I was running 400 meters at a faster pace than my jog, focusing on form, and time didn’t matter. Ha. Try telling any distance runner that time doesn’t matter.
On the first one, I over-compensated for not feeling warmed up enough, and by expecting it to feel harder than normal, I ended up running 67 seconds! WTF?! The last 100 meters burned a bit in the chest, but it was 30 degrees and 6000 feet, so I was pumped.
As I walked my 300m recovery, I started thinking, “man, its like riding a bike. maybe i’m actually pretty awesome.”
Next 400 and I run 68! The lungs burned a bit worse for 150 meters, but even while struggling to catch my breath after the finish, I stared at the time on my watch with pride. Wow. Awesomer by the second.
Number three comes a long and I run with Stephen Pifer for part of his mile rep, and we run a 70. The last 200 meters of it my legs weren’t lifting very well, and I was tasting some blood, and as soon as I finished I was confused as to whether I had done three or four reps already.
Walking 300 meters at three-legged sloth pace, I psyched myself up for the last rep by lowering expectations. “Ok, you got a little carried away here my dear. Just try to run a 75 nice and controlled to see what 5:00 pace feels like.”
The watch said 74 at the finish, but I tapped it twice. Whah!?! It felt the same as the 70, and while I said I wanted to run 75, I didn’t really mean it! Then, gasping for air on my cooldown, I started laughing. I was all by myself, but my teammates were on the other side of the track, and I was hoping nobody was watching me loon out. I was thrilled. One set of 400’s in my back pocket, and a blog entry I hope to read in four months and smile.
Great accomplishment Lauren!