Casual Speedwork (9oom repeats)

Yep, casual speedwork. But, I get ahead of myself. Beautiful morning, mid 50's and clear. Gilbert was quizzing people as we gathered, asking how we felt after Decker. I honestly told him I felt really good, no aches or pains to mention. Others were a little more stiff and sore than I was. Anyway, Gilbert offered to us that we could run an easy 7 miles if we felt too tired, since he wants us fresh for the long run on Saturday. Noone took him up on that offer. Frank and I told him that we'd go over to Zilker park with the gang, and then we'd just cruise around at Zilker while everyone else did 900's, and then we'd cruise back with them. That was our plan. Even on the warmup, Frank, Shannon, Henry and I fell back a little from the main pack, as we warmed up slower than the usual group pace, letting our legs slowly get into the proper rhythm. About 10:15/mile pace going over to Zilker. We got to the park just a short time after the main pack did, and decided to do the drills, even if we weren't going to do the speedwork. We figured some of the exercises might actually help ease our legs. I felt fine, but some of the others in the group had actual pains. The drills passed uneventfully, but on the strides at the end, I could tell that my legs were a little heavy. Not painful, but still tired.

Anyway, we gathered, and Gilbert told those of us who did Decker on Sunday that we could do 5x900m on this hilly course, but to do them easy, and he wasn't going to ask us for our times. It was a little like being in grade school, and having a substitute teacher come in and hand out an assignment but deciding to let it be "open book." Non-Decker people were to do the 900's as usual. So, with that option, we decided to cruise the 900's instead of making laps in Zilker Park. Our Gang of Four took off, and we cruised the first 900 in a very relaxed 4:43 (8:26 mile pace). We were talking during the intervals, it was so relaxed. The next 3 were in 4:34, 4:35, and 4:32, about 8:08/mile pace, very consistent, and still nice and easy. During the 90 second rest between each repeat, I jogged very slowly, mainly to keep warm. My legs felt just fine, and I was having a good time. On the fifth repeat, we picked it up just a bit, to 4:28, dipping just under 8:00/mile pace. Since we had been such good boys and girls, we chose to do one more repeat, and Frank and I decided to push the pace on this one. I knew I was working harder, but it didn't feel crazy fast, so I was shocked to see that I had covered that last repeat in 3:55, 7:00/mile pace!

On the cooldown run back to RunTex, I chatted with Shannon, who is one of the newer Gazelles. She's a PhD candidate at UT, and I was curious about her research, so as we talked, we were running quicker than we thought. I should have been slower coming back, but I guess it didn't hurt to run a little faster. We were about 9:00 pace coming back.

After some easy stretching and some warm clothes, I felt really good. This was a nice workout, just enough pace to pick up my leg speed, but still easy enough that it counts as more of a recovery type effort than the usual Gazelles speedy stuff. A nice day at the running office, on a nice crisp morning. Overall, about 7 miles, average pace 8:46/mile.