You've Gotta Start Somewhere.....

Recalling that great running adage"the will to win means nothing w/out the will to prepare"last nite saw the beginning of several weeks/months of interval workouts on the track as I begin to ready myself for the outdoor track season and a welcome return to all things 800m/1,500m. Over the next seven weeks I dare say I'll be making the weekly pilgrimige to Roxboro's track,yes it's a hike{left work at 3pm,got there by 4.30pm,all done by 5.50pm,home by 7.10pm}but it's a means to an end,as long as I can get two repeats a week in on non race weeks it'll help get me into 800m/1,500m shape for the half dozen races I've scheduled between May 6th and July 24th b4 flying off to Lisle IL for Outdoor Nationals in the first weekend of August. Granted I've been no slouch when it's come to getting on the track this past year even through the whole anemia issue but now it's time to switch the type of repeats from 4x1 mile,5x1,000m and 3x2mile from 5,000m/10,000m racing to shorter more speed orientated repeats.6x600m,8x800m,simulated 6x600m,4x1mile,5x1,000m and tonites bill o fare the 200m,300m,400m,600mx4 ladder. I opted for the ladder to kick things off as I had no preconceived ideas of the type of splits I should be looking for.....thought this didn't stop me from plucking some target figures out of the air while waiting for the bus to Roxboro,also I figured shorter stuff to kick off my intervals would serve as a double whammy,get my legs used to quicker turnover and also recalibrate my thinking from 5,000m/10,000m long distance racing to 800m/1,500m mode. My target times I came up w/ were:33-200m,51-300m,1.10-400m,1.43-600m,as time evolves and I return to this workout I'll reset those targets,but for tonite I went: #1 31.93-48.02-68.07-1.49.34 #2 34.27-49.34-1.12.58-1.51.79 #3 35.72-51.20-1.14.95-1.52.08 #4 35.09-49.81-1.12.09-1.52.71 Overall I'm quite pleased w/ my performance,clearly the real test will be stepping foot inside the "Death Cage" for 6x600m on Saturday but based on today I don't see why I shouldn't be aiming for 1.50 and below on them I was especially proud of my final set of the ladder as I went 3/4 w/ faster splits than #3....had I NOT had to swing wide on the back straight w/ 250m to go to pass some old duffer walking in lane 1{I swear every track I run on there's always someone walking in lane 1.....not to self buy a cattle prod and put it in my backpack!!!} I think I could've gone 4/4 but hey for a first repeat this wasn't bad,let's see how Saturday's 6x600m go