Sunday, April 13, 2008

Saturday and the Sun

Well, we are getting down to go time.  Yesterday, basking in the sun and 20 degree weather, a hint of the summer to come, I hit the track with Jay, Paul, and the VFAC crew.  Coach John had a "surprise" workout for us.  I remember doing this for my running clinics, and now I see why it was both loved and loathed. 

All we knew was that we had 4200m of effort to complete.  A 400m warm up (70 seconds) and a mile (4:40) were the first two pieces.  After that we were told what the distance was as were lined up to start.  We had about 10 seconds to digest the distance before setting off.

The third piece was an 800m (2:16).  We had lots of rest after each interval, which meant more time to debate the next interval.

A 200m (28 seconds) followed the 800, which meant, based on the math, 800m left.

It was indeed another 800m, but this time we were to go a little slower than our first 800 and wait for John to yell, at which point we were to pick up the pace until the finish.  We ran the first lap figuring that we wouldn't make us run from over 400m, so we entered the final just waiting for the call.  The yell came with 250m left and we pushed from there, trying desperately to maintain form.  I was surprised to come in only a couple seconds slower than the previous 800 (2:18).

I also used the Brooks Burn, the shoes I have used in my previous marathons.  While the Racer ST I tried out on Wednesday wasn't bad, the comfort of being in a known shoe reaffirmed the decision to stick with a known shoe.  And, as Mike said so perfectly in a comment, nothing new is good news.

Today is a bike ride with Sonja, some Masters golf, and some more sun (hopefully).  A thoroughly enjoyable weekend.

Speaking of which, Simon won the World Cup triathlon in Ishigaki, Japan this morning.  Good on him as he gets ready not only for the Olympics, but for the World Championships in Vancouver in June.  

And for your viewing pleasure, Brent Curry, the brother of a good friend and Ironman triathete Scott Curry, is the creator of fun and interesting bikes.  







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