Not So Fast Track

Before I tell you about my workout, I just wanted to take a moment to plug the KV Challenge Marathon. Established in 2004, the KV Challenge is probably the fastest Marathon in New Brunswick, as evidenced by some of the ridiculous times posted on the course. The slowest winning time was 2:46 and change, and Chris Brake came close to landing the New Brunswick Marathon record when he ran 2:32 last year. And let's not forget the countless number of people that use the race as their ticket to the Boston Marathon. Thirty eight runners finished the marathon in 2008; of those finishers, 9 qualified for Boston. Few marathons in this region can boast that sort of success rate.

If the full isn't in your plans, the KV Challenge also offers a half marathon, a two person marathon relay, and a four person marathon relay. Just think about it: running through scenic Hampton, a PB in your sights, the wonderful fall colors distracting you from the growing fatigue in your limbs. Sounds like my kind of race!

Okay, back to training. Today I attempted to do a pyramid of 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 800, 600, 400, 200, but my legs weren't feeling the longer distances today. I started out surprisingly fast - faster than I have run in a long time - but I was hurting by the time I hit the 800 (the short recovery times probably didn't help). Instead of scrapping the run, running less, or running slower than planned, I adjusted the workout accordingly. I still ended up with 5k worth of speed work, but the repeats were shorter. Here's what it looked like:

200: 37 seconds (45 second recovery)

400: 1:22 (60 seconds recovery)

600: 2:10 (75 second recovery)

400: 1:28 (60 second recovery)

400: 1:28 (60 second recovery)

600: 2:14 (75 second recovery)

600: 2:15 (75 second recovery)

600: 2:14 (75 second recovery)

600: 2:14 (75 second recovery)

400: 1:27 (60 second recovery)

200: 37 seconds

I was especially impressed with my last 200. My speed was right where I wanted it, and I felt like a well oiled machine. I'll have to remember what I did right the next time I hit the track. Those times need to drop in a hurry if I want to compete this fall.