August 10, 2010

800 Zone

Today was all about half-mile intervals up at the track. The 800 is a tough distance for speedwork. Yes, you have to run them hard and get out of the running-zone, but it's not pure speed and burn like 400s (which have become my friend). I knew that I needed some more bonding time with 800s ;) My two mile warmup was fine, and I threw in a few hard bursts to wake up the legs. Then I tackled the 5 X 800s :O

Once again, my strategy was to divide and conquer--so, one set of three. And then another set of two. The first couple 800s felt great at sub 7:20/mile pace. I was pretty relaxed at that pace. But by the fourth one....watch out, I was huffing and panting and literally running on fumes 'o' anger!!! I gave 100% effort on the final 800, and kicked it in to run a 3:38. I think I was gutsy on this training run, and I'm stoked that I have a few days of easier running coming up :)

1 comment:

  1. Love this blog... it's now in my official list! I need to start some speed work, and those 800s sound hard. Maybe I'll start with 400s. Can you recommend a good basic speed workout? Thanks for the recent bloggy love. Keep up the great work!

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