warhurst

I was pretty scared coming in to today's workout. Ever since I ran the SA marathon, Steve's been talking about the warhurst and how hard it was going to be for me to complete. I hadn't run it before, so I didn't know what to expect. The only good thing I had going for me was that I've completed some pretty tough track workouts in college...so I knew the mental toughness was there. The workout was 5 (yes that's right, 5) sets of 1 mile at tempo pace, quick recovery, 1200 at 10k pace, and a quick recovery. The recovery was about a 400 meter jog. The recovery saved me. I think that my ability to recover during each set was a true testament to the fitness I'm acquiring. Anyways, according to McMillan (not Mike's iPhone app), my tempo pace is about half marathon pace, or 6:20. My 10k pace is 5:59. For the sake of easy math, I gave myself the extra second to make it an even 6 min mile pace for 10k. So for a 1200, I should've been coming in at 4:30. We were instructed to take the first mile a little bit slower (b/t hmgp and mgp) and then settle in . My sets looked like this:

set 1
mile: 6:28
1200: 4:15
set 2
mile: 6:16
1200: 4:26
set 3
mile: 6:16
1200: 4:27
set 4
mile: 6:15
1200: 4:25
set 5
mile: 6:17
1200: 4:18

I was really happy with the results. I ran the first set with Larry, Ken, and Kamran. After the first one (which was too fast for me on the 1200), Larry & Ken stopped for water and Kamran and I kept going. It was easy to lock in with him and keep a consistent pace, which we did on the 2nd and 3rd set. He stopped after that because he's nursing an injury...so I was on my own for the last two sets. I was a little concerned because I'm not the best at keeping a steady and consistent pace...but I was right on the money. I guess I'm actually learning how different paces are supposed to feel. My last 1200 was fast because I was chasing Larry and Ken...but it was intentionally fast, so that's ok. After the workout we had a slow cooldown back to barton springs and I enjoyed a nice/freezing soak with Mike. Today was the first quality workout and I'm off to a good start!

pluses: confidence, nice weather

minuses: tight hamstring