force myself to get stronger and tougher

Tuesday, 12/29-

On this 50-degree wet day, I looked to my archives and thought that I might do the "Breaking the Barrier" 800 meter workout.  For an 800 meter race goal of 2:00 or better, the workout is 12×300 at 43-45 seconds with a 1:00 recovery.  If the pace slows to a 47 or slower after a minimum of 4 repeats of 300 meters, then drop to running 200s at 28-30 seconds with a 1:00 recovery.  If you slow to anything slower than 31 or 32 seconds, then drop to running 100 repeats in 14-15 seconds with 30 seconds' recovery.  For a goal of 2:05, it is 12x300 in 45-47 seconds with 1:00 recovery.  If the pace slows to a 50 or slower after a minimum of 4 repeats of 300 meters, then drop to running 200s at 31-32 seconds with a 1:00 recovery.  If you slow to anything slower than 33 or 34 seconds, then drop to running 100 repeats in 15-16 seconds with 30 seconds' recovery.

I decided to do what I did a few weeks back: a modified version of the Russian intervals workout.  As written for a high school 2:00 800 meter runner, the Russian intervals workout consists of 5 x (3x300m @ 48 with a 30-second/100m jog-rest between runs and an 800m jog/rest between sets.)  This means 5 sets of 3 300s in 48 seconds, with 30 seconds' rest between runs and an 800 meter jog between sets!  OMG.  I have done a modified version of this workout in the past.  For example, I have tried five sets of 2 x 300 or even a couple sets (3 or 4) of 3x300, but never five.

I decided to do 200s instead of 300s.  My plan was to take exactly 60 seconds between runs and jog the 800 between sets in 6:00.  My goal is to build towards the original workout Russian intervals workout described above.  With my goal being 30 seconds for the 200s, here's what I managed:

Set 1: 30-low, 60 sec rest, 30-mid, 60 sec rest, 31-mid

6:45 800 meter jog

Set 2: 31-high, 60 sec rest, 30-mid, 60 sec rest, 31-low

6:45 800 meter jog

Set 3: 31-low, 60 sec rest, 30-mid, 60 sec rest, 30-mid

6:45 800 meter jog

Set 4: 30-high, 60 sec rest, 31-low, 60 sec rest, 30-high

6:45 800 meter jog

Set 5: 31-low, 60 sec rest, 30-low, 60 sec rest, 29-high

While I was hoping to run 30s, which, on average, would have been about a second faster per repeat than what I managed a couple of weeks back, this 10:30 AM workout performance was pretty good.  

I would like to do these repeats in sub 30 eventually.  Alternatively, I'd like to do this workout with 30 seconds' rest between 200s.  I need to force myself to get stronger and tougher!  I would also like to give the breaking the barrier a shot soon.




Monday, 12/28-took off