Sound mind, sound body

Except when you tear both of them up!

Saturday was the tough-ish MP run.

Sunday was the Spartan run. I can't climb a rope (yet) but I can carry a tire partway up a ski hill, and grass can be very sharp, among other things I learned.

Monday was my organic chemistry final (postponed (indefinitely for a while) due to the postal strike). I lost sleep over the past week over the uncertainty of the exam date, but fortunately it arrived in time and I wrote it. It was a very cathartic brain dump; it felt surprisingly intuitive. And now I feel the void--I was reviewing equations constantly, especially before bed.

Today was housework, yardwork, packing and an interval workout: We're headed to Newfoundland and I'm not sure how I will be able to get runs in, or what runs, if any, so it was best to get at least one of the tough ones out of the way.

This was an interval workout, 5X 1k, hard, with recoveries equal in duration. It was so hot, though, that a couple of them ended up being a bit longer. The temp was 28C. Some muscles were still sore from the Spartan race. My warm up jog was slower than 10:00/mile...I was not moving.

To soften the upcoming challenge, I decided to do out-and-backs on a stretch I know well. After the first interval, I changed my mind--slowing down for the sharp turn, though fine on other occasions, did not befit conditions which so strongly favoured a slower pace.

4:28. Actually, this is only a couple of seconds or so too slow, but somehow I thought that it was way too slow.

Fortunately, there is 5k's worth of 1/2k markers, and I know where they are and, thus how much or little remains of an interval when I'm suffering in the middle of it.

And a magical thing happened: I've been concentrating on form and I realized that, if I lean forward a little more, lift my shoulders a bit more, move my arms a bit more, and generally run into the discomfort instead of backing off it, things are more efficient.

4:12.

Was it a fluke? I was worried I'd start to droop.

4:01
4:05
4:10

The 4:01 was excessive...I tried to keep it up but I was getting hotter and more thirsty and more sore. The new form felt great but I wasn't able to capture it as well during the last interval...but I must not forget it! The adjustment took off at least 20 seconds per interval, I think.

I was supposed to do 4:26ish per k, and ended up doing 4:11. Not bad for 31ish C humidex (fortunately, the heat burned off a lot of humidity!) Hopefully this will make the upcoming tempo runs more palatable.