2000m Repeats at Zilker

We started earlier today, at 5:45 am, and there were only a handful of hardy souls there for the festivities. A total of maybe 10 people left RunTex to cruise over to Zilker Park for the 2000m road repeats. I had a nice run in the dark with Amy, Shannon and Alex, as we laughed about waking up so early to do these workouts. We took the sort of long way around to get to the drills, but it was so dark that I think we felt more secure running on or near the street to get into the park. Drills and then it was time to get going. We started earlier than usual so that we could get in more repeats before having to get back to RunTex. My little pace group was Amy, Shannon and David for the first repeat. Gilbert told us to do the first one easier and to finish the workout strong with our fastest runs last. Suggested 3 repeats for a minimum and up to 5. I wanted to do 3 for sure and hoped to do 4. These are hard repeats, with only 2:00 rest between, and I've traditionally averaged something like 9:10 overall for the repeat sets, which would be about 7:25/mile pace.

Our first repeat was still in quite dark conditions, and I think we really took it too easy. I pushed a little coming up the only hill on the loop, and brought it home in 9:35. That's still 7:43 mile pace, but it felt too easy. On the second lap, David was told by Gilbert to back off, since he's supposed to be tapering for Pikes Peak in 10 days. However, Liliana joined our merry band, having just arrived, and we were off. I wanted to pick up the pace on the second lap, but I got a little carried away, and we finished fast in 8:54. The third lap was 8:59, and Amy and Shannon were pleasantly surprised to do so well on that one after struggling just a touch on the second lap. They were done after 3, but I still felt that I needed to push through a fourth repeat, so I accompanied Liliana on her third, my fourth 2000. I was tiring, but kept her just in reach the whole way 'round, and finished that last repeat in 8:57. Those last 3 x 2000m were easily my fastest group for this workout ever. My overall pace for the day was a personal best as well, at 9:06/lap, 7:20/mile pace for 8000m of repeats. It was hard work, especially on that last lap, but I fought off the urge to quit that last one, and finished quite strong.

The run back was thankfully relaxed, with Liliana, Alex and Amy. I hung around and did some needed stretching, and even saw Frank, Richard and Jan from the Fall Marathon gang. It was a good day at the running office, and it made me feel much better that I had this sort of speed lurking in my legs. I was feeling sort of slow and mopey after reading and hearing about some of the other folks' times in workouts, and this one helped me out a lot.

For the day, 8.37 miles, including warmup and everything else. Gilbert suggested 10-12 miles this Saturday for us, turning around early on the fall marathoners' out and back course. Next Tuesday is W-W-W-W-Wilke, which is always tough. Yee haw!