Itty Bitty Teeny Weeny Baby Workout

AM: 30 mins. ellip.
PM: 2.5 mile w/u
2xmile w/3 min. rest (6:00, 5:44)
2 mile c/d
Total: 6.5 miles

I figured today was as good a day as any to attempt a super easy, teeny tiny baby workout. Almost everyone is gone for the holidays already except me and Jess, so we agreed to meet up in the early afternoon for this effort. We decided the best course of action was to run to Myers Park High. The overwhelming pro for this is that the track is a very easy two-mile jog away. However, the con is that more often than not Queens runners have been kicked off before finishing their workouts. This would be my first attempt, and I figured that since we would be out there for literally less than 20 minutes that we just might evade detection.

I was wrong. Within a few minutes of our arrival, school let out and members of the MPHS track team began trickling over to the oval. Since no coaches seemed to be present (at least not at first), we had no option but to cross our fingers and keep rolling. As for the workout itself, things started horribly. This was my first hard run since Nationals almost a month ago--and, as you may recall, I wasn't exactly in top shape for that either--and my leg has been iffy the past few weeks. But still, I expected 6-minute pace to feel like a jog. It didn't. Both of us were surprised at how much we were laboring during the first interval, our legs and lungs burning at the effort of bringing the pace down to a respectable clip. The rest period--a time interval I would normally scoff at--seemed over before it had begun, and I didn't exactly have high hopes for the second mile.

And then, surprisingly, things turned around. We went through the half in 2:50--a full 13 seconds faster than we'd opened the previous mile--and I felt like I was barely laboring. On the third lap we were nearly brought to a complete halt by a group of utterly moronic high school boys who apparently had no idea what to make of words like "Track!" and "Lane One!" and "Move!" being shouted at them; even so, we managed to pick up where we'd left off and finish strong, closing to the line in 5:44. Now, I get that 5:44 isn't fast, nor is it a time I would be proud of during a workout when I'm even remotely fit. But to run the second mile a full 16 seconds faster while feeling significantly better--that's the part I'm pretty pleased with. In fact, I felt so good at the finish that I contemplated tacking on another interval, but the coaches had arrived at that point and were giving us the evil eye. It was clear we'd worn out our welcome.

So, congrats to me; I can run one interval at the pace Jordan runs for a marathon. Olympic Trials, watch out.