So...yesterday's workout was killer. Wasn't really expecting it, and in the middle, I certainly wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish it. This was the first interval workout of the year, a 4x4x400m piece of tortured goodness. The setup was at the front of the school, read: very bad footing, hard to go fast on. Its our standard location for cross country 400 interval sessions (funny, I'm not really doing cross this year, am I...). Anyway, the workout was, as I said, 4x4x400m, with a minute between intervals, approximately 3 minutes between sets (turned out to about 3:30 each time). The pace was set at 66-68 for Pablo, Adam and me (Adam didn't have class in the afternoon, so he joined us. 66-68 is approximately 4:24-4:36 mile pace, just for reference. And yes, I know that wasn't proper grammar when I said Pablo, Adam, and me.).
We got off to a good start, hitting paces, and I felt pretty strong...but not four sets strong. I knew it would be a struggle later, and it was. But not exactly how I thought. I more fell asleep at the wheel than fell apart, and as long as I was able to wake myself up, I did just fine. Only two intervals were 69, and most were 66 or 67, right on pace, and faster that I ever expected I'd be able to hold.
I am certainly still feeling that workout today. Did about an hour run around lunch time, sore all over, took it pretty slow. Although it was one of those runs where I was still pretty aware of my body, not just sort of stumbling through it. What I mean is, sometimes (and I don't know how many other runners feel this) you'll be on a run, and your legs hate you, you feel tired, sore, and you think you're struggling...but then you step back for a moment, and sort of observe what you're feeling more objectively, and realize nothing really hurts, your legs are just being recalcitrant, like whiny children. They are actually capable of not only holding pace, but in fact staying at a faster pace, and its not painful, just uncomfortable. Somehow, you disassociate the two, and suddenly holding pace or even going faster isn't that big a deal. (This is on an easy run, post workout, though I suppose the same can apply to hard runs...but not always. Sometimes, it just HURTS.) Bottom line is, discomfort is the runner's bread and butter, and if you can realize that what your legs want you to think is pain is really just unpleasantness, you find you can just keep chugging along...
Hard runs, well, like I said, it sort of applies, but in the middle of a workout or a race, its a matter of constantly fighting your body into remembering that. Because often, all your body wants to do is stop.
I don't feel like that's the best description of what a hard workout is. If there are any other runners out there (Rice guys? Anybody?)reading this, it'd be cool if you put up your own take on a hard workout. Now I know that just sets me up for the embarrassment of no one posting a comment with such a description, but look, look at my face...thats me caring that no one reads this.
I write it mostly for my own edification anyway.
So there you have it, a post completely about running in a blog about running. Fancy that.
PS The battle for a regular sleep schedule continues. A new trick: don't check email, or the news, or anything even related to the internet before bed, therefore keeping me from being up for hours watching video demos of the gaming possibilities of the new quad-core processors Intel is cooking up, or of a dude who solo speed climbs El Cap with no protection to the amazement of other climbers on the route, or of the Cal/Stanford game with the incredible finish from like 1985 (all of which I watched this morning rather than last night, courtesy of digg.com, a great site). Old problem: I'm still tired but unable to sleep until a late hour that I won't mention, even if I don't get caught up with crap on the internet...
Oy.