Frozen Track, 8x800M @5:49/pace

Shop lights from home help on dark morning track workouts

Really good track workout considering the surface was frozen, it was 29 degrees with a 15mph wind, and I had to dodge goose poop-sickles every other step.  Also, it was dark for the entire run, which for some reason challenges my ability to focus during Speed Workouts.  So last year I started bringing shop lights from home, which to a great job of lighting up a huge portion of the track.

It was the first track workout I'd ran in a while, but I'll probably try to get in a couple more workouts before the Phoenix Marathon at the end of this month.  I'm not running any shorter races in the near future where I necessarily need the speed, but the track sessions really help with leg turnover late in a long race.

Since I do a full leg strengthening workout immediately fter Speed Workouts, I've started shortening the workouts to avoid fatigue.  In fact, I've really tried to focus on NOT fatiguing myself too much during marathon training ... a mistake I used to make a lot.  This morning's workout went like this ...

2mi warm up@8:00ish/pace
1mi Marathon Pace@6:55/pace (I can't hold a 6:55 for a full marathon at this point, but it's my target)
800M ... 2:58 (5:56/mi pace)
800M ... 2:50 (5:43/mi pace)
800M ... 2:56 (5:54/mi pace)
800M ... 2:53 (5:48/mi pace)
800M ... 2:49 (5:51/mi pace)
800M ... 2:54 (5:49/mi pace)
800M ... 2:54 (5:49/mi pace)
800M ... 2:57 (5:56/mi pace)
(400M light jog in between each one for about 2:20 recovery time)
1mi cool down@8:05

On the way to Campbell Jr. High, the home of the track I use, I thought if I could average a 6:05/mi pace, I'd be happy.  So I was really pleased that my times were as fast as they were.  The conditions were a lot tougher than I thought they'd be with a "Feels Like" temp of around 15 degrees, and the wind gusting at 15mph, so overall it was a pretty good workout.
... Be Great Today!