Warhurst

The Warhurst must be respected. It is a tough workout.

We had to do 5 repeats today, which means that after our warmup we did sets of 1M at 'tempo to MGP' pace followed by a 400m easy jog to the track and 1200m at 10k pace followed by water if we needed it, followed by 400m easy jog...repeat 5 times. Each repeat (including the easy jogs) was just over 2 miles, so running five of them is no small feat.

Coach told us to first focus on the 1200m on the track. He wanted those fast and consistent. Then, our next priority was to focus on the mile time. Our final focus was to do all 5 sets. My ultimate goal for the workout was to do the mile sections at 7:38 pace and the 1200m at 7:20 pace (meaning that my time for the 1200 should have been 5:30). I was determined to get the track pace right, regardless of where I was on the mile.

Here's how it went, then the excuses.

round 1 - 7:57 - 5:28.89
round 2 - 8:08 - 5:27.89
round 3 - 7:53 - 5:28.24
round 4 - 7:50 - 5:26.06
round 5 - 8:00 - 5:27.70

My 1200s were good. No excuses for my performance there. I'm more than pleased that I didn't slow down. I'm also glad to see that my first one was my slowest and my last two were my fastest two.

My mile sections were slower than I hoped. I really thought the first one was going to be 7:45 or faster and I panicked when I saw 7:57 for the effort that I was giving it. I don't know if it was the cold air, running in tights, or what, but I didn't feel warmed up and my legs didn't feel so hot the first couple of repeats. The 8:08 was my reaction to feeling a little sluggish. I tried to stay within myself going up the Veterans hill and just settled into too slow of a pace.

After round 2, I started to warm up and felt pretty good. I know why my last repeat was slower...I was so focused on being finished that I just let myself ease up. I wasn't chasing the ladies in front of me as closely as during the other laps, so I became lax in my pacing.

I've got a bunch of lame excuses as to why I was slow on the mile sections...hills slow me down, I don't like running in tights, it was really cold, it was really dark at first, Steve said it was okay to be a little conservative on the miles and I let that be an excuse for me to go slower, it was cold, I didn't feel like I was in a groove, I weigh 5 pounds more than I did on Saturday because of things not in my control, I didn't get a good night's sleep, it was cold, I wished I was wearing shorts, I had menstrual cramps after repeat #3, hills slow me down, I lost focus, it was cold...wah wah wah...

Excuses aside, I'm pleased that I completed the repeats and didn't bonk. I did the track work correctly and am not too disappointed that my average mile section pace was 7:57.6. That is faster than my 'B' goal MGP and on a flatter mile I would have come closer to meeting my 'ultimate' workout goal.

Much respect for the Warhurst. I look forward to repeating the workout in 3 weeks.