Monthly Archives: January 2008

Don’t Tread On Me

0, 08mi, treadmill

Start Time: 1/16/08, 6:30pm
Location: Gunston Community Center
Distance: 8 miles
Average Pace: 8:45min/mile

It was too cold out to attack the Custis Trail again, so this time I decided to seek out a treadmill—eight miles on an 1/8th-mile indoor track meant 64 laps, and surely by the end I would be dizzy and throw up. I finally went over to Gunston, which no one seems to know exists, and used their solitary treadmill. No one else wanted to use it while I was there (in fact only two other people were even there while I was!), so hey, works for me.

Pete, Pete, and Repeat

0, 01mi, 02mi, explosive, meter repeats

Start Time: 1/12/08, 8:00am
Location: Washington-Lee High School
Distance: 1 mile & 4x100m & 200m/400m/800m/400m/200m

Saturday was another group session with Empowered & Fit. After a mile warm-up, we did four 100m runs progressively faster (forgot to time those, oops). Then we did a pyramid: 200 meters, then 400 meters, then 800 meters, then 400 meters, then 200 meters. And for each run, we were supposed to transition every quarter of the distance and get progressively faster. It was fun, if hard. It was great to have Emma there, acting as a rabbit in front of me and pushing me through the end each time. I like having someone a little faster than me there for an event like this, because it really pushes me hard. (0:45, 1:31, 3:33, 1:33, 0:37)

Start Time: 1/14/08, 6:30pm
Location: McLean High School
Distance: 2 miles & 12x200m

“Oh, don’t worry, Greg. McLean High School’s track is lit at night.”

Well, it isn’t. Argh. Still, ran my warm-up mile (9:34), then with a deep breath… started 12 200-meter repeats. Ugh. That’s four more than I’m used to, but I was able to ramp things up pretty well… ok, #11 not so much, but all in all, I was pleased. (50.15, 49.11, 43.43, 43.71, 43.15, 40.35, 40.99, 40.38, 39.45, 39.32, 41.42, 40.03) And then afterwards, amusingly, the cool-down mile? Kind of fast. (8:35) Funny how it’s all relative.

Back on Track — now with added hillwork!

0, 01mi, 08mi, custis, explosive, meter repeats

Start Time: 1/5/08, 8:00am
Location: Washington-Lee High School
Distance: 1 mile & 4x100m & 4x400m

Saturday’s session was the return to our group workouts, hurrah! For this run we started off with four 100meter runs, the idea that each one pushing a little harder and in a slightly tougher zone. (20.13, 18.06, 16.30, 15.02) Then, we were to replicate those four zones over the course of 400meter repeats, with each quarter of the track faster than the one before. It was fun but tough, ratcheting each segment up a little more. While my times decreased for the second and third, my transitions were getting stronger each time, and it made sense that I was a tiny bit more pooped with each one.

For the fourth, though, Fred said that our goal was to go faster than the first. And… much to my surprise… I did! Hurrah! (1:31, 1:34, 1:40, 1:28)

Start Time: 1/7/08, 6:30pm
Location: Custis Trail
Distance: 8 miles
Average Pace: 9:19min/mile

Back in the day, I used to regularly run part of the Custis Trail as part of a group workout. (About a mile and a quarter of its distance, then back.) But it had been a while, and the weather was so fantastic on Monday that I decided I’d go tackle an 8-miler on the Custis Trail.

Ooooooof.

When I ran with the group on Tuesdays and Thursdays, my times on Thursdays would always be much faster than Tuesdays, and this was no exception with a 9:19 average, even as I felt I was putting in an 8:30/8:45 amount of effort. Phew. That’ll learn me! (9:10, 9:12, 9:04, 9:30, 9:07, 9:22, 9:20, 9:47)

Hello, 2008

0, 07mi, indoor track

Start Time: 1/2/08, 6:30pm
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center
Distance: 7 miles
Average Pace: 8:28min/mile

Well, the plan was to hit my cycling class tonight. Even getting there almost half an hour early, though? Toooo late, already full thanks to the New Year’s Resolutioners. But, that worked out well because I needed to run my 7-miler either tonight or tomorrow morning. So while the others pedaled, I ran. The indoor track wasn’t too crowded—mostly regulars that I recognized, like the guy who runs in the same polo shirt and sweatpants every time, or the guy with the t-shirt from Iran, or the super-tight-and-trim guy who wears a spandex shirt underneath his running shirt. Good times, good times. (8:44, 8:25, 8:24, 8:30, 8:25, 8:32, 8:19)