Speed Work = Pain!

Today I saved my workout for the evening to do while Pete and Ethan went to their consecutive Krav Mega classes. Ethan's class starts at 5 so we had to leave at 4 to go pick Pete up then take them to class. Of course, I was 15 minutes late getting out of the house so I was already upset and stressed about them being late when Pete called and asked if I'd brought his stuff. I hadn't even thought of that so I felt really bad because now he wasn't even going to be able to do his class! We still hurried and got Pete, then to Ethan's class and I dropped them off. Pete said he'd be ok just hanging out with Ethan and watching his class until I was done so I stuck with the plan to go do my run at the nearby gym. I dropped Mindy and Elle off at the childcare, and Elle was so excited to have Mindy go in there with her.

I went up to their indoor track which is 15 laps/mile. Ug. So I had to figure out how many laps would be 400 meters, since that's what I was supposed to do today. Speed Intervals. Ug.

I did my first interval and was confused when it said my time was 1:08, then I realized that I'd only done 2 1/4 laps. That would have been 1/4 mile at my old 9 laps/mile gym track. So while I recovered from that little one, I figured out how many laps I was really supposed to be doing, and it took me an amazingly long time to figure out. I do not think fast when I'm running. I figured I was supposed to do 3 3/4 laps for 1/4 mile or about 400 meters. This was pretty easy to do because the track just goes around the gym so it's kind of a rounded square shape so I'd just start at one corner and end at the corner before the one I started at. (It was maybe simpler than it sounds...)

Here's the breakdown of my whole workout, I was shooting for 2:00 intervals:

7:56 (warmup)

1. 1:08 (oops, this one was too short, but I still counted it...)

1:19 (recovery)

2. 2:02 (Real 400, or close to it)

1:50 (recovery)

3. 2:00 (400m)

1:50 (recovery)

4. 2:03 (400m)

1:45 (recovery)

5. 2:01 (400m)

2:46 (recovery)

6. 1:59 (400m)

9:23 (recovery/cool down)

Total Time: 38:08

I really pushed it hard to make those number, and I think I did pretty good. My slowest one being only 3 seconds over my goal. I'm ok with that, and I'm happy that I was able to make my last lap be the fastest again! I did feel like I was going to throw up for most of those intervals, but I think that's how it's supposed to feel. (that doesn't mean I like it, but I'll keep doing it)

I couldn't remember if I was supposed to do 5 or 6 intervals so I just did 6 to be safe. Turns out I was supposed to do 7! Next week it's supposed to be 8!! Yikes, I hope I can handle that without passing out or throwing up. Or both.

I hope this works to make me faster. Do you think it will? Do you think I'll ever be fast?

On the last few intervals, my right calf was really starting to hurt/cramp up, but I just pushed through it. I stretched it really good when I was done. When I got home I made myself a toast with an egg, cheese, turkey and another egg on top for dinner, and drank some O.J. with it. Then I took a hot bath, massaged my calves and put my compression socks on. I hope all these thinks, combined with going to bed pretty soon, will help keep my legs from getting too sore. Is there anything else I can do? I have another run tomorrow, and I hope I'll be able to do it!