The Great Flood

AM: 3 miles
PM: 3 mile w/u + strides
Target: Mile @5k pace; 800 @2:40; 2x400
Actual: 5:44, 2:43, 73.5, 73.1
2 mile c/d
Total: 7 miles

Well. Just when I think the weather can't make things any worse around here, it ups the ante. Today I left work at 2:00 and met Tanya, Jenna, Simon, Futsum and Alex at JC Smith for our respective workouts. Upon pulling into the parking lot it became apparent that the track was flooded. Okay, not the entire track, but essentially the first 75-100 meters were several inches deep in water out to lane 5. It was also bitterly cold and drizzly, but that was the least of our concerns.

From that point we were faced with several options, none of which seemed particularly appealing. We could acknowledge that running is dumb, go home and put on dry clothes like normal human beings, and try again tomorrow. We could run the workouts as is, strapping on floaties and wading through the first 100 meters. Or we could slightly modify the workouts, starting each interval in lane 5 and swinging back out into 5 on the watery section of each lap. For better or worse, we chose option three. Needless to say, this meant that both our pace and distance would be more or less incalculable (or at least not accurately calculable). I wasn't too concerned, since my pre-race tuneup was more about putting some snap in the legs with a few short, brisk intervals. Tanya, on the other hand, was less than thrilled about attempting 5 x mile in the middle of a swamp.

Once we got started, everyone became focused on just grinding through and putting in work. As corny as it sounds, I was as proud of us today as I have been at any other race or workout this year. It was tough, it sucked, and everyone was miserable, but we put our heads down and stuck it out. In the end I'm not sure how fast I was actually running, as the 400s were the only intervals that actually measured the correct distance. (I started in lane 5 at the stagger...brought me back to my high school days.) The mile and the 800 were definitely longer than the prescribed distances, but I'm not sure how much longer. Oh well. What matters is that I felt strong and smooth the entire time, which is a feeling I hope to carry with me into Friday's race. I might not have gained much fitness from today's efforts, but I certainly earned a few points for toughness.