With an interval workout on my schedule today, I set off for a 2 mile warm up. While running down the sidewalks I paid special attention to my left ankle. Having twisted it while out on the trails on Sunday, I was a little leery of the stiff, tender feel that lingers. I planned to stay within walking distance of home at all times in case I needed to drop the run all together.
Within the first half-mile the stiffness was resolving, but after 1 mile I was feeling a pressure from the lateral edge of my shoe insert. I continued on moving at a very easy pace, passing the house on from the other side street. By the time I reached the local track the pressure had gone away. I stretched a little and then moved to the inside lane to begin the real “work” portion of my run.
Coach had prescribed 400m repeats with 200m recoveries. I was to run eight of these cycles before hitting the road again.
The first 400 was harsh. I was breathing hard throughout and even grunted in the final turn. With 1:47 in my head as a target, I was relieved that I had overshot it when I glanced at the interval time. I tried controlling the pace better on the next 400. I was pretty close to my target and happy to be able to ease up a little more. When I finally achieved my target I was feeling pretty good. Challenged but good.
Little did I know that my “target” was not as fast as Coach had prescribed. He had asked me to do them in 1:40-1:45. All in all, I think that my intervals were run at a good pace for today given the uncertainty of my ankle.
Here are my interval times:
400m – 0:01:34
400m – 0:01:43
400m – 0:01:47
400m – 0:01:49
400m – 0:01:47
400m – 0:01:44
400m – 0:01:49
400m – 0:01:49
400m – 0:01:47