1000m Repeats

The workout that I dislike the most is mile repeats.  Today's workout is my second least favorite.  1000m or 1 kilometer repeats.  That's 2 and a half laps around a track.  It's about .6 miles.

The goal was to run at 10k pace.  I don't have a frame of reference since I haven't run one in 5 years.  In this case, coach told us to use our 5k pace, double it and add 1 minute.  I figure that's around 23 minutes, so 46 plus 1 equals 47 minutes.  Our chart didn't have 10k times, so my partner and I guessed it would be around 4:40-4:45 and anything under that is good.  Now that I can look it up online using a pace calculator, I can see that it is 4:42.

The workout was 2 sets of 4 repetitions.  The first one was 10k pace and then 3-4 seconds faster each one.  Take a 1 minute rest between reps and 3 minutes between the 2 sets.  At the beginning of the second set, start over at 10k goal pace again and work our way down again.

That didn't work out at all.  We ran the first one in 4:21.  Way too fast.  Followed that up with 4:25, 4:23, and 4:23.  I don't remember the second set except for the last one.  Here's what happened on the second set, because I deviated from the workout.  My partner and I tried to keep up with the pack in front of us to begin the next set of 4 x 1000.  They were only running between 5-10 seconds faster than us, but we were already running too fast.  That did me in.  On the second 1000, I started feeling numb in my feet and a little dizzy, so I stopped with 300 to go and did a walk and jog around the track to get straight.  I then did my third and forth by myself.  Third one was slow and the forth one I ran the 1000 at 4:30, but I also kept running for another lap to make up the difference of what I cut short on the second rep.  It probably didn't help my workout, but it helped my ego at the end of the workout, so I didn't feel like I cheated.

I don't like 1000's.  Everyone has theirs.  I like running 400's.  Most people hate them.

Speed Work... of the 1000 and 200 Kind

I won't be running the House of Hope Run Around the Pines 5k this Saturday in Winter Park, but it is the last 5k of the Track Shack Grand Prix Series for 2010-2011.  That being said, Coach Nathan is gearing us up for the race.  I anticipate being in Miami for the weekend or at least part of it.

4 x 1000 at our goal 5k race pace with 2 minute rests and then 6 x 200 at Fast.  What's fast?  Not quite sprinting, but close enough to wind you afterward.

On the 1 km's, I was shooting for 4:20, which is just over 21:30 for a 5k.  I ran them in 4:03, 4:06, 4:06, 4:15.  Keeping that average pace would net a 20:43.  I could live with that.  Not going to happen just yet, though.

On the 200's, I am not sure what my times were.  I clocked the first one and it was a :37, which wasn't that exciting to see when I looked at my watch.  The rest period between reps on these was 45 seconds, which I abided except on one that I took a 55.  Considering what my time was on the first rep, I am pretty sure that I kept it under 40 on all of them.  I had to be very careful not to push myself too hard, because 200's is what we were running when I pulled my hamstring this past October.  Their so easy to run that sometimes I get carried away and just letting loose.  Not today, so everything is intact.

Down Ladder Workout - Tuesday

Ladder Workout - Interval workout with a systematic progression.  This is more easily understand with examples.  Any distances can be used such as 400, 600, 800, 1000, 800, 600, 400.  You would run the 400's at mile pace, the 600's slightly slower, the 800's at 5k pace, and the 1000 at 10k pace or slightly faster.  I used to run a lot of these in high school on the track team.  We would specifically call these Up and Down Ladders.  We broke our ladder defitions down to also include an Up Ladder workout and a Down Ladder workout.  The Up Ladder workout would be short distances at faster speeds increasing in distance and slowing in speed as the workout progresses.  An example would be something like 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200.  My group's workout on Tuesday was a Down Ladder.  This is the opposite of the Up Ladder.  You start at longer distances and increase speed with shorter distances as the workout progresses.

Since I didn't run this weekend, I decided to start warming up early.  I jogged 1.5 miles before the group warmup.  I jogged another mile and then the usual 4 x 100 striders to loosen up.

Here was our Down Ladder workout.

2 x 1000 (@ 10k goal pace)
4 x 800 (@ 5k goal pace)
4 x 400 (@ 1 mile goal pace)

between each repetition, 200 jog recovery
between each set, 3 minute rest

I ran the first set of 1000's a little fast.  I don't remember my splits though.  I know I was about 10 seconds faster than my goal and the second was 1 second faster or slower than the first rep.

The 800's were much faster than my goal pace.  I think my goal was 3:45 before we started.  The first was 3:15 and I could tell that was too fast.  I hit the rest in 3:21, 3:24, and 3:20.  I posted the times on DailyMile.com and the first one was wrong.  I remembered now that I ran that first one just behind Jonny and he did a 3:14.  That's a virtual 2 mile time of 13:20.

The 400's were brutal as they should be.  They are fast and I was supposed to start jogging immediately after finishing each one, but I had to stop for a few seconds after each one to catch my breath.  I was obviously overachieving.  I ran them in 1:21, 1:26, 1:21, 1:35.  I started cramping and couldn't control my breathing on the last one, but it was only a 400, so I pushed through it.  I don't think I could have kept going if it was an 800 or more.  Then again, I wouldn't have run that fast if it was an 800.  That's a virtual mile time of 5:43.  I can't believe that I used to run those pretty easily in high school.  I ran a 6:07 at the time trial a couple months ago.  I would think that I would be getting close to 5:43 without rest or recoveries, but I guess that I am not taking into account that this was at the end of the workout.  At least, that's what I am hoping is the case.

My times are coming down along with the temperatures.  This was a great workout!