Brrrrrrrrrrr it was cold outside today at the Track...

This is the cold Hamilton/Wenham track and my friend April who was there coaching two of her clients. Notice the stay puff jacket she is wearing and all the cold gear, ugggggg.

So today my workout was to do an extensive and build to Steady State by mile 2 and hold until completing 3 miles in my warm up. Then the hard work. I was to do 30 minutes at a 7:30-7:40 pace with 1/2 mile thrown in anywhere (broken up into 1/4, 1/8th) whatever I wanted to equal a 6:30-6:45 pace. I also had to do a few stride outs and a few minutes of stretching before my 30 minute ( a little bit faster than tempo run).

So I get these workouts a week in advance and I always look for the "one" that is the hardest, whether it be 20 x 100's in the pool or a workout like this. They can be mentally or physically challenging. So I guess I have been thinking about this workout all week and knowing it was going to be cold and windy I was nervous I wasn't going to hit my times. I looked for encouragement from my coach and some of my friends and they were all supportive which was nice.

Anyway, I got to the track around 9:30am to see my friend April ( or Coach April) working out two of her clients. They had to do a timed mile and then a 20 minute run to test their LT I believe. I was still doing my warmup as they were starting and finishing their 20 minute test. It was cold, the track had a huge head wind on one side and a barely noticeable tail wind on the other, I knew it was going to be a challenge today. Anyway, after my 3 mile warmup, stretches and stride outs it was time to do it.

total time: 30:10

mile one- 7:35-hr 250

mile two 7:43- oops, stupid head wind ( heart rate 160)

mile three 7:34 ( heart rate 161)

mile four 7:23 ( heart rate 160)

I felt really good, I unfortunately had too much in the tank at the end and I think I didn't push myself as hard as I could have. I really need to run with more people to push me, running alone is mentally challenging and physically challenging at times but I know I could get faster if I ran with other people.

Anyway, so psyched to have my day start like that, hitting my workout, feeling good, finishing the workout with some resistance training at the gym and now some vegetable chili I made last night. So psyched, I just want to keep getting faster.