Track Workout - interval running

Summary: 5.25 miles running (1 hour)

More running and less strength work was prescribed for this week's track workout. It was a gorgeous sunny day. I had a sleeveless shirt on, but even that was too warm, so I did the workout in my jog bra & shorts. Ah, California.

I have to say, I think I prefer breaking up the running with the strength drills. I don't have very good running form and I'm pretty sure I can blame most of my major injuries (both my ACL tears & last spring's ankle ligament tear) to it. When I run at the track, I try to focus on improving some of the things that have been pointed out to me about my gate. But by the end of this workout, my right side was not happy with me. From my ankle to my glute. I ended up walking the last two laps of the cool down. Luckily I had a conference call shortly after I got back to the house, so I spent about 20 minutes stretching & rolling on my foam roller during the meeting. Ah, working from home.

Here is the official workout:

Week 6 Track Workout:
WARM UP:Spring Triathlon – 2 laps; Olympic & Half Ironman - 4 laps

Warm-up Drills:

2-4 x 50 yard High Knees
2-4 x 50 yard Butt Kicks
2-4 x 50 yard Cross Overs (new)
2-4 x 50 yard Heel/Toe walk
2-4 x 50 yard Strides

WORKOUT:

Effort level is a 6 to 6.5 effort level (tempo pace). Equivalent to the fastest you can run for 1 hour

Rest interval in-between each set is a work:rest ratio of 3:1. If an 800 takes 6min, rest should be 2min. Rest interval can be a slow jog or jog/walk.

Sprint Tri: 6 x 400 ; Olympic: 4 - 6 x 800 ; Half Ironman: 4 - 5 x 1200

COOL DOWN: Sprint - 2 laps; Olympic - 2 to 4 laps; Half Ironman - 4 to 6 laps

I did 6 x 800. My 800s averaged about 4:20 min. And my rest intervals averaged about 200 yds. I think I only did 3 laps on the cool down. By then my counting was distracted by the Cal men's soccer team which had gathered for a practice on the field that the track goes around. They were playing 2 on 2 "volley ball" over 1.5 ft nets but they could only use their feet, heads and chests. Looked like a fun way to work on soccer ball-handling skills.