Finding Time

When Coach Rio handed me the next 2 week’s worth of workouts, I was excited and a little scared about what he was going to put me thru this time.

Speedwork

Again, I would be doing 800 meter intervals but this time I would only do 5 repeats instead of 6. However, I needed to do each with a time of 3:15. I reviewed my last 6 weeks of training and I could not find a time when I was able to run 800’s that fast. I was also only allowed a rest interval or jog of 1:30 from 2:00 and to top it off, I would finish with a 2 km run in 9:00. According to Coach, he had based those target times on my previous performance. I was glad to hear he had that much faith in me and I was willing to give it a try.

Last night, I managed to complete my intervals in 2:54, 3:16, 3:18, 3:26, and 3:23. I was able to finish the 2 km run in 9:08. A little off the mark but surprising as I did not think I would do as well as I did. Perhaps Coach Rio is really onto something here…

Tempo Run

For the tempo run, I needed to bring up the mileage from 12 km to 15 km. Including the 2km warm up and cool down, I was going to run 19 km on a weekday morning! If I wake up at 4:00 a.m., I might just have enough time to include taking a leak, putting on my running outfit, have a glass of water and a piece of bread, and stretching after the run to finish the whole workout by 6:00 a.m.. I would then be in time to eat breakfast, get dressed, and bring my wife to work and daughter to school. Whew!

When I started out running in the mornings I would get up at 5:00 a.m. but as I increased my mileage and my daughter started going to school, I had to push it back to 4:45 a.m. then to 4:30 a.m.. I adjusted by cutting out TV, spending less time blogging or surfing the net (as evidenced by my less prolific posting). However, in this case, I probably should just run faster so that I can get more sleep and finish earlier!