Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Ah Sunday,a day of rest...........phis!!
Off of a 13 hour sleep....yep that,s not a typo,I crashed out at 8pm last nite and woke at 9am this morning,a testimony to my second week back at work and my second week back to training I knew it was up and at it following a much needed cup of coffee and an updating of ye olde blog.
Blast!!!upon arrival at St Joes it was a quick about turn,lacrosse practice meant no access to the track,how I long for the not so distant days when Franklin Field was open on a Sunday.Had I,ve known St Joes was going to be off limits from the get go I,d have made my way to Roxboro from jump,but these things happen and if there was one plus from all my criss crossing over the city it was that I got to listen to 3 whole cds on my ipod which now means I can delete them to make room for more songs.....glass half full baby.
As I stood at 3oth and Market waiting for the #9 to Roxboro I cast envious glances at the runners on Schuykill Banks getting their run in,how lucky they were to be able to just get out there and run probably w/out even realizing it,but I knew for me I had to get to a track and nail my second repeat session of the week.
The one thing about Roxboro even if it,s a hike to get to is that 9 times out of 10 I can do what I need to do when I get there w/out too much in the way of interference and following my stretches and mile warm up to the battle anthems of Queen "Gimme The Prize"and "One Vision"it was showtime.
GP had given me a 4x1,000m repeat w/ a slight twist,90 second laps per 400m and a 45 second closing 200m,3.45 per 1,000m,but here,s the twist,less recovery time per repeat,60 seconds after the first,50 seconds after the second and 40 seconds after the third....AND I was instructed to push as hard as I could over the final 400m and make repeat#4 faster than repeat#1,maybe I should,ve played something off of the "Mission Impossible" soundtrack on my mile warm up!!!!
Repeat#1 I opened w/ a 1.26 1st 400m followed by a 1.33 for 2.59 at 800m and then threw in a 47 second 200m to clock 3.46.00.#2 I surprized myself w/ an opening 400m of 1.24 followed by a second 400m of 1.32 to clock 2.56 at 800m,a 46 second 200m brought me home in 3.42.33.
It was either a reaction to a slightly faster second 1,000m and/or the 5o second recovery but I was feeling it early on repeat#3 as my splits bore out,1.27 for the opening 400m followed by a 1.36 400m for 3.03 at 800m w/ a 48 second 200m,3.51.60,w/ only 40 seconds to catch my breath there was precious little time to dwell on things like slow splits,oxygen debt or muscle fatigue.
1.29 for the opening 400m and I knew I was meant to be bracing myself for an all out assault when I reached 600m,2.18,as much as I wanted to be able to grind it out and spill my guts out onto the track it,s just not there yet..............but give it time,this time two weeks ago I was just coming off of an emotional 400m at the Millrose Games,last week I only managed half a repeat workout so to be upto 2 repeat sessions in a week is a slow but steady return to where I want to be,I know it can,t all be won back overnite but each week I feel a bit stronger and a bit faster.3.03 at 800m,a 1.34 400m,a 42 second final 200m to clock 3.45.04,1.27 for the final 400m and slightly faster than the opening 1,000m of 3.46.00.
Gp had stressed the most important thing about this repeat session was compleating it,Mission Accomplished then,a couple of my splits were off but I,d gutted it out and w/ Indoor Nationals 6 weeks away I,m begining to feel more confident about my chances.
Up next a return to races w/ back to back meets next Saturday and Sunday,GP and I have already began to draw up a schedule for the upcoming week to continue to build upon last week and this week.
22.5 miles for the week,6 days of training,it,s begining to feel like I was never away from this and that,s a feeling worth it,s weight in gold.