Back to Speed

Booyah!

I forgot how good it feels to go fast! And, boy, does it feel good!

It’s September – summer is over, school is back in session, and the local school track has been repaired and restored just in time for racing season.

Isn’t that black rubber-based track a thing of beauty? 🙂

Since the track has been out of commission all summer, my training group and I have been having boot camp style speed workouts at a local field. The work outs have been tough and great for building strength, but I missed having a track to really push myself on. This afternoon it felt great to get out there and just leave it all on the track again.

Our workout was simple, she started us out long, then had us drop to short and fast.

• 400 Warm Up
• 1600 @ 5k Pace + 5 seconds
• 2 x 800 @ 5k Pace
• 4 x 400 with negative splits.  
• 400 Cool Down

I was rusty, but still pretty pleased with what I could do. One of the assistant coaches became my running partner and really pushed me through each set. He warned me when I needed to slow down, told me when to open my stride and loosen my arms, and pushed me to a pace I forgot I had in me.

Here’s what I ended up with:

• 400 Warm Up @ 1:56 (8:00)
• 1600 @ 7:32
• 2 x 800 @ 3:40(7:32) 3:47(7:45)
• 4 x 400 @ 1:54 (7:42) 1:51(7:30) 1:51(7:30) 1:44(7:12) <-Negative Splits!
• 400 Cool Down (untimed)

The best part? At the end I felt I could have kept going! I guess that means next time I’ll just have to push myself that much more.

The track wasn’t the only thing I welcomed back into my life this afternoon…

Hello Awake Tea Latte with one pump of Pumpkin Spice!

Man, I almost forgot how good these things are! Too bad I didn’t forget how much $$ they are. $3.75 for a grande? Ouch! Maybe it is a good thing Pumpkin Spice is only here for a limited time. 😉

Pre-track I combined two Healthy Living Summit swag bag items to create a killer snack.

Quaker Smashbar + Barney Butter = Snack Perfection

I’m thinking about adding nut butter to all of my lighter granola bars. It adds some staying power as well as a boost of delicious flavor.

Derek made fun of me the other week when I bought this odd shaped root and had no clue what it was.

It was labeled as a blanca something-or-another, but I thought it resembled yucca. Especially after I peeled and cubed one.

So, I cooked it like I would yucca – steamed with a nice slab of butter.

Done.

The texture and taste were so similar to a yucca, that it might as well have been a yucca. The only difference I could see was the blanca something-or-another wasn’t as veiny or stringy as a yucca (if that makes sense?).

The yucca clone was paired with a flavorless ‘steam-in-a-bag’ creamed spinach

On the side of a chicken apple sausage in a pita with spinach and ketchup.

Dinner is served.

Dessert – serving of coffee chocolate fudge ice cream with granola.

I’m wiped! I’m currently on my 4th episode of Picker Sisters this evening and ready for more!

Good Night!

Tagged as: Augusta Half Ironman Training, Pumpkin, Running, Starbucks, Track Work out, Training