A 3:00 workout, rest included

Saturday, 7/12-

I met up with Phil at Germantown Academy for what turned out to be one of the briefest yet more intense workout I've ever had.  I arrived at 8:45 or so and decided to start my warm up before Phil arrived.  On account of the football camp taking place on the field, I warmed up by running the perimeter of the athletic area of campus.  When I returned to my staging area, I check my phone and saw that Phil had sent me an email saying he was running a little late.  He'd arrive at 9:05 or so.  Once he arrived, he shared that he was thinking of one of two workouts: 600, 1 min rest, 200 OR 400, 300, 200, 100 with a 100 meter walk between each run.  I told him I was indifferent and that sometimes it's nice to have someone else decide the workout.   After he warmed up, he said we'd do the former workout, especially since getting kicked off the track wasn't altogether unlikely.

When it was clear that we had both warmed up sufficiently, we were ready.  Phil explained that his goal was to run 1:30 for the 600 meters, essentially race pace: 28, 57, 1:27.  I countered with 1:30: 29, 59, 1:30.  I was just hoping to hang close to him.  And I did for the first 400.  He was about 28; I was right behind him in 28/29.  He crossed the 400 in 58; I was a solid 59.  As I lost ground to him, I looked down and saw that I was at the 500m in 1:15.  My last 100 must've been 17 seconds, as I ended in 1:32-high.  Phil told me that he hit the mark in 1:29.  We'd be up for the 200 in 60 seconds.  He asked me if I was ready.  I was not for two reasons: I was tired as hell and I had not yet reset my watch.  I needed the entire 60 seconds.  As timed reached 50 seconds, Phil was ready to go.  Before I could reset my watch, he took off.  Three seconds later, I was behind him.  I covered the distance in marginal 33 seconds, while Phil managed a hard-fought 29.  The long and the short of it is that Phil is theoretically fit enough to run sub-2:00 (probably 1:59), and I am fit enough to run 2:06.  Incidentally, 2:06 was my seed time for last Tuesday's meet.  A 3:00 workout, rest included