felt as good as it could feel and went as well as it could go

Saturday, March 30, 2013-

I decided to join Craig and his team for a workout at Cherry Hill West HS, about an hour away.  When I arrived at noon, I saw there were about 4-5 kids and Craig and Bruce.  We were soon joined by Darryl and Jordan, a young woman and a student at Drexel.  Evidently, Chuck had gotten to her.  Great!  We need more women on the team.  Per Craig's Facebook posting, the invitation read as follows:  "Old School 400m Workout this Saturday at Cherry Hill West HS, 12:00. 6x400 on 8 minute active rests, varsity boys will do 80-75-70-65-60-60. (Old school implies: maybe not scientifically sound, but sometimes you just gotta do it!)"

I warmed up a mile, some of which was with Craig and Bruce, and stretched a bit.  Incidentally, I did not stretch quite as much as I usually do.  Everyone got started, broken up into two groups.  I sat out the first 400, as I was still stretching.  I hopped into the second 400, which was supposed to be in 75 seconds.  I hit 74-low.  However, I didn't like the way I felt running in my training shoes, so I popped on my spiked.  My next 400 was in 68.  I was feeling better.  I figured that the upcoming 65 would be a bigger test for my calf and for my fitness since it's been nearly three weeks since my last track workout.  I dropped a 65, even splitting pretty much.  I heard a little self-doubt about the next two 400s, which were supposed to be run in 60.  The first 100 was in 14.  I reached the 200 in 29.  After the 200, the high schooler I was running behind fell asleep a bit on the turn, so much so that I almost clipped his heels.  I hit the 300 in 46 and finished off in 61.  I offered to Craig that I should lead the last 400 and encourage the high schooler to run the third 100m harder and allow me to pull him through the turn.  The first 200 was similar, although it felt slower.  I saw 29 at the 200 and 44 at the 300 mark, after which my calf started spasming.  My leg buckled and I slowed down, finishing in 61.

All things considered, this workout probably felt as good as it could feel and went as well as it could go.  This workout is priming me for returning to one of the following:

Pick-up reps--8x 400m (#s 1,3,4,6,7 @ 70 and #s 2,5,8 @ 63 w/ 2:30 rest)
Sit 'n Kick Reps--5x (400m @ 64 . . . rest 60-sec . . . 200m @ 28) with a 1200m jog  btw sets

Alternatively, I need to do some sprint work in preparation for Penn Relays.