speedwork!

Yesterday: 3 miles and some resistance exercises.
Today: 5.5ish miles.  My husband and I left a very disappointed dog behind and hit the track.  The workout was 5-6 sets of 2 X 200M + 1 400M, but we decided to do just 4 sets because it's been a while since either of us has done speed work.  And four sets were enough!

It was sunny and warm, maybe 22C, and the track on post was a yard sale.  This was my very first time using this track and I didn't know what to expect.  We pulled up to an empty track; there were a couple of cars there and once that group had all arrived, they did some exercises and then took lanes 1 and 2 to do intervals while we were doing our warm up on the outside lanes.  That was fine. we had marks for 200M on our lanes, and though we didn't quite figure out 400M, we got close enough.  It didn't help that we had to keep changing lanes, though that wasn't the fault of the group.

A lady and her three kids pulled up, two of the kids on bikes and one in a cart, and at first they took 7 and 8.  Ok, so we switched to 5 and 6.  They didn't stick to 7 and 8 though!  Mom whipped out her phone and  became Mombie and she and her kids weaved all over the place.  I tried my best to turn my ire into speed.  Maybe they come to the track every day, and at least they're out, plus it's a somewhat snotty army post, a bit too much "well, my husband is such-and-such a rank" and I'm just trying to keep a very low profile (and mostly off post, lol).  So we adjusted.

Then a young couple came and did a circuit workout of sorts and they were having the same issues as us.  Mombie +3 were all over the track.  We ended up getting into each other's way a bit but it was ok.

Then the husband of Mombie showed up, plunked himself in track 6 and/or 5/4/3, and did a few short reps amid resistance exercises, collapsing histrionically after each rep.   It wasn't just a few seconds bent over to catch his breath: he laid himself out in full despairing "I coughed up a lung but missed Olympic gold by a hair and even as I speak, people in my home country are tearing my picture off walls and fridges and vehicles, especially the kids, oh, the kids who looked up to me" style.  I understand perfectly how much track work can stir things up--thank goodness there was a bathroom right beside the track!!!--but I try to step off the track to do my biz.

Lanes 1 and 2 opened up because the group finished, and the former was quickly claimed by a fast guy doing intervals, and a slow woman.  I saw her move out of the way a few times for him, which was nice, but I'm not sure why she just didn't stick to lane 2.

Meanwhile, the couple had finished, and Mombie's brood was tired of the track and her husband was too so he was minding the kids; she unMombiefied and did a couple of reps in lane 1 finally, and I felt some sympathy for her: she couldn't do her stuff for the longest time.   Her husband showed up after she'd been there 15-20 min or whatever but he went right to flopping on the track without giving her a bit of a break.

Two guys showed up that looked semi-official.  I think they had something to do with track maintenance because they were talking and examining the track while standing on some of the middle lanes.  My husband and I were alternating between 5 and 6, 6 and 7, and 7 and 8 by this point, but we still had to switch lanes in mid-rep for each 400M.  The 200M intervals were easier to plot.

Hopefully next time we'll get there earlier!

I can't remember what my times were last time I did 200-400 repeats, eons ago.   This time, 41-43 s per 200M, and 1:32-139 per 400M, not counting 1:18 or whatever when I stopped at the wrong mark.

The planned post-run Zwow workout was jettisoned.  I was beat!  But I did enjoy the post run warmth.  It felt good to have pushed myself.