Speedwork!

I'm not sure if I'm bragging or complaining, but I ran speedwork yesterday. "Speedwork," for those of you who have never run track or cross-country, is running VERY fast for brief, structured bouts of work, for the purpose of racing faster later on. It wasn't much, just 4 repeat quarter-miles with a quarter jog in between... 2 total miles of running, but it kicked my butt. For those keeping score at home, my quarters were in 87 seconds, 88, 87, and the last one in 82. That's a little better than 6-minute mile pace, or 10 mph+ for treadmill people (the "jog" in between was more like 10-minute+ pace).

I checked my logs... the last time I ran any kind of speedwork was 2005. I think the last time I ran quarters may have been 2001 or 02. This morning I feel like I've been hit by a bus, but it feels pretty good to know I actually ran fast. My tentative plan is to do this every week or two this summer, gradually adding a repeat until I reach 8x400, and then maybe decreasing the rest period after that. Hopefully by the time my cross-country team arrives in August, I won't have to train with the JV girls.