Speedwork

I normally ignore the part of the Woodlands Fit schedule that dictates speedwork.  I've had various reasons through the years: injuries, lack of consistency, etc, but the bottom line is I haven't done it.

This year I wanted to give it a shot.  If I hear even a murmur of discontent from my body, I'm going to stop, because getting to the finish line is the most important thing, but I wanted to give it a try this year, and, shockingly, so far so good!

Last week I did my "Needle" course, 1 mile run to the head of the needle, 7x30 seconds hard run/30 seconds walk around the head of the needle, then a mile run home.  It went really well.  I was stunned to see that I was pulling a 7:30 pace on the speed parts!

This week I did my "Circus" course, run steady loop 1, speed work 7xrun hard/run easy fartlek style with streetlights designating the transitions, run steady last loop.  I was holding just sub-8's this week, but with my legs still a little tired from the 10K, I was good with that.  I also was feeling a slight twinge on my right shin, so wasn't wanting to push anything.

But really what is so cool about this is the speed that I'm managing speeds that I haven't seen in YEARS.  Only for short periods of time, of course, but it gives me hope that maybe there is a fast 5K left in my legs.  I'm going to think seriously about trying to train for a PR early next year.   Maybe... probably. :-)