Planned: Warmup; 5 x 1000m @ 6:14 w/ 400m Rest; Cooldown
Actual: Warmup; 5 x 1000m @ 6:16, 6:15, 6:08, 6:18, 6:08; Cooldown
Average Heart Rate: 158bpm
Maximum Heart Rate: 184bpm

I started this run a little late in the day. It was not easy. The graph, though, has a nice order to it. I would post it, but I’m much too tired to take a screenshot.

So it’s been a while since I’ve run intervals. Hey! They hurt! A lot!

The hardest thing is that, while the distance goes down, the speed goes up. And the worst intersection of speed an distance is somewhere around 600m. By the time I was done, I felt like a rag doll flopping around with little to no control over my own limbs.

On a side note, today is the first day of my new eating plan. I’ve been back at running for about two and a half months now and I’ve still got some fat issues. I’m thin, but that just makes any extra stuff look that much more pronounced. So I’m making some changes. Updates forthcoming.

[Update:] I was offered a brownie in the morning and a giant piece of chocolate birthday cake in the afternoon. What was I supposed to do? Not eat them? I don’t want to be rude…

Also, HTML tables are tough. It’s been a while. It took me an hour to figure out how to do that thing at the top of the entry. And to think there was a time when tables were what you used to design websites. Amazing how absolutely none of that information stayed in my brain. Huh.

Planned: Warmup; 6 x 400m w/ 200m rest @ 1.5min; Cool
Actual: Warmup; 6 x 400m w/ 200m rest @ I Have No Idea; Cool

These are the days that the Garmin really shines. You could never pull off a workout like this with the Nike+. But with the Garmin, it was a two minute setup and then “start”. From then on, all you have to do is listen to the watch. It tells you when the next 400m is starting (with a couple of beeps beforehand so you can get up to speed) and tells you when you’re supposed to be resting. I love it. LOVE IT.

Then I forgot to upload the data to my computer.

Considering that this is my taper week, I was surprised at how fast these 400s were. Granted, there were only 6 of them so it didn’t kill me. I think I have a three mile run on Thursday or Friday and then I race.

After that, I take a break. Maybe until March.

Planned: 5mi inc. Warmup; 3 x 800m @ 2:51 w/ 400m jog; Cool
Actual: 5mi inc. Warmup; 3 x 800m @ 3:00/2:58/2:55 w/ 400m jog; Cool
Average Heart Rate: 144bpm (Max HR: 174bpm)

Many things went badly today. I hope the rules that apply to dress rehearsals also apply to last workouts before races. I will use bullet points to illustrate the issues:

• I was tired when I started.
• My two previous runs have been on harder surfaces and my shins didn’t appreciate it.
• Nature called…with the voice of a thousand demons (so I stopped to answer).
• I didn’t run fast enough intervals.
• During said intervals I clearly wasn’t working hard enough if my heart rate never got above 174bpm.
• It’s getting dark, like, early.
• I don’t feel in shape despite the mileage that should prove otherwise.
• I think that, in an attempt to make tasty and economical food, I have introduced too much sugar and/or carbs into my diet. I.E. I feel fat. Thankfully we don’t own a scale.

That’s about it. For the first time I actually considered not running this race on Sunday. It’s still up in the air. My shins…oh, my shins. We’ll see.

Planned: 5mi inc. Warmup; 2 x 1600m @ 6:04 w/ 800m jog; Cool
Actual: 5.62mi inc. Warmup; 2 x 1600m @ 6:03 & 5:50 w/ 800m jog; Cool
Average Heart Rate: 157bpm and 173bpm (during intervals)

Will I ever run on the track again? The big ol’ lock was back on the gate. Just like it was all summer and all spring and all fall. Jerks. My tax dollars [used to] pay for that track!

There was a guy in a green T-Shirt wandering the parking lot when I started my run. He looked normal enough but he was still there when I got back and he passed close enough to me that I could hear him mumbling to himself. His hands were twitching occasionally and he looked kind of haunted. It felt like college all over again. There was a giant — for lack of a better descriptor — redneck on our hall who would occasionally get hammered on Everclear and when he was drunk, you had to keep one eye on him because he could snap in a second and try to kill you. For no reason. I didn’t like him when he was sober either.

I left Griffith without finishing my stretching for fear of dying.

The intervals were tough, especially the second one. And it didn’t help that I screwed up the math (again) and ran further than necessary. It’s a good thing all the races are marked or I’d end up running an extra mile if they gave me the chance. Doh.

Nike+ seems to be having a problem. That or iTunes 7.4.1 has a problem. Or my iPod has a problem.

In any case, the graph is — I hope — forthcoming.

[Update: And now it works. Why? No idea.]