Conditioning Work

(3 x 60 seconds) x 2, 3 min between reps, 8 min between sets, 80% (6 min mile pace)

58 degrees at dusk, Rock Springs asphalt oval

Can’t say that I’m displeased. It was really nice to be out in a t-shirt after having a “snow day” yesterday at work. This is a conditioning trainer, early days. I do have good confidence that this is around 80%; there are at least two gears in there that I haven’t engaged. But doing half the oval at that pace, six times, is a solid-feeling effort.

It’s a whole different crowd at dusk as opposed to dawn. Dawn treaders are out there to WALK, dang it! They’re getting their work in. Duskers are strolling. Both are happy in their own way, but they are definitely different from each other.

And I’m the only one running.

Next time around, I’m hoping to cover more ground at the same effort. Make my 80% go further, as it were. I don’t harbor any notion that I can run a mile in 6:00 at 80% effort. Not at all. What I am trying to do is to groove in that pace as a comfortable training pace, and gradually extend it to race length. This is a longer prospect, not a one-month thing.

And remember that I’m not really training for the 1500, although it’s true that getting the 1500 time down in this fashion would swell my point total. Instead it’s more that I’m getting in condition to train the 200 really hard. In the not too distant future, 200 meter repeats will be the menu.

So on this warm January evening, I’m feeling like this is all on track (pun intended) for early in the training season.