Slightly Tweaked Ladder Workout

Tuesday's track workout was a ladder.  Normally when you run a ladder workout, it is something like 400, 800, 1200, 800, 400.  The distances can vary.  Here's the tweak.  We ran 11 x 400m.  The first 400 was to be run at 5k goal race pace.  I made my goal 1:40.  We had to run each lane of the track working our way out to Lane 6 while maintaining the same time.  For each lane you add, you are tacking on about 7 meters.  Here's the breakdown of actual distances by lane.

Lane 1 = 400m
Lane 2 = 407m
Lane 3 = 413m
Lane 4 = 420m
Lane 5 = 427m
Lane 6 = 434m

Then, we laddered our way back to Lane 1, but this time we had to try to run negatives.  I was close.  I only missed running a negative split twice, but all of my reps were below my goal time of 1:40.  The rest between reps was 1:15.

Rep	Lane	Distance	Time	Mile Pace	5k Pace
1	1	400m	1:35	6:22	19:48
2	2	407m	1:38	6:27	20:04
3	3	413m	1:36	6:14	19:22
4	4	420m	1:37	6:18	19:34
5	5	427m	1:37	6:06	18:56
6	6	434m	1:37	6:00	18:38
7	5	427m	1:37	6:06	18:56
8	4	420m	1:34	6:00	18:39
9	3	413m	1:35	6:10	19:10
10	2	407m	1:32	6:04	18:50
11	1	400m	1:25	5:42	17:43

It was hot, but I felt really good for almost all of the workout.  I didn't feel like I was even warmed up until the 3rd rep.  I started to feel sluggish on rep 8 which was lane 4 on the way back down the ladder.  With these kinds of times, I should be running better 5k's.  Period.  I know it will come.