Running With Flounder

Workout date: 9/17/15

Flounder has told me repeatedly that he does a search for his name on this blog to see if there is anything worth reading.  Well Mr. Halpern, your name is right there in the subject line, so I expect you'll be reading this one.

On Thursday I made it to my first real Endurance class of the year.  Missing Endurance this year has had a noticeable effect on my performances this year.  I have not found an adequate replacement for the conditioning work I used to do every Thursday from spring until fall.  And since my recent job had work hours that were more central time than eastern time (due to the rest of my department being in Texas), making it to the track by 5:30 became an impossibility.

With my schedule being more flexible these days, I have had the option of hitting a couple of Boot Camp and Endurance classes.  When I got to the track, there was a surprise awaiting me.  Coach Tim was not available this week, so #keithie was coaching the class.  Also taking the class were Laura A, Alejandra, Alona, Jen S, and (you guessed it) Flounder.  The workout would involve some warmup, an 800 meter time trial, and then a series of sprints.  I knew that Laura was ridiculously fast, so I had no intentions of keeping up with her.  Instead, I would try my best to stay within 100 meters of her on the 800 meter time trial.  The sprints didn't sound all that bad and I figured I would do well with those.

We took off on the 800 meter run and Laura immediately darted to the lead.  Alona followed after her and I took up the 3rd spot in the group.  Watching Laura run made this time trial seem completely unfair.  She was effortlessly gliding along at the front of the group, slowly widening the gap on the rest of us as we moved around the track.  As we approached the halfway point of the first lap, I went by Alona and tried to keep Laura in range without burning myself out.  Typically in an 800 meter run, I'd go about as fast as I could on the first lap and hold on for dear life on the second lap.  For this time trial, I wanted to have a strong second lap.  I was thinking about how I've done in WODs like Nancy and how I've fallen apart in the latter stages of the workout, especially during the runs.  Perhaps if I could put together a solid second lap here, I could translate that to stronger runs back at the gym.  As I completed my first lap, Keith yelled out that my time for the initial 400 meters was 1:32.  Oops.  Don't think I wanted to go quite that slow on my first lap.

Laura was still within 100 meters of me, but I had no idea if and when she might kick it into another gear.  Despite going relatively slow on that first lap, I still had to focus on controlling my breathing.  I pushed as I came off the initial turn, making sure that when I reached the back straightaway, Laura would still be on it.  She was, but barely.  200 meters is a sprint distance, but I wasn't sure I could really sprint all of that final 200 meters.  I leaned forward and kept pushing, trying to get to the final turn with enough energy and momentum to go all out for the final 100 meters.  I had stopped watching where Laura was.

As I hit the last 100 meters, I started pumping my arms and got up on my toes.  I hugged the turn as much as possible and lengthened my stride, desperate to be done with the time trial.  I had a nice little burst at the end and crossed the finish line at 3:08 and change.  Was I within 100 meters of Laura?  Well she finished at 2:49, so it was probably close to 100 meters.  Regardless, I was happy with my time.  More than anything, I was happy about hanging in there and running 1:36 for the second lap.  Something to build on.

For the sprints, we were supposed to sprint 200 meters, then do a light jog for 100 meters, before sprinting the final 100 meters of the lap.  Afterwards, we got 2 minutes rest.  We were doing three rounds of this.  In the first round, I had a very fast 200 meter sprint.  Maybe too fast for someone in my current shape.  I began walking the 100 meter intermezzo before the next sprint, although I wasn't the only one as we were confused about whether we started the next sprint together.  For round one, we waited for everyone to be together, but in rounds two and three, we took off on the 100 meter sprint as soon as each individual hit the starting point for it.  My 100 meter sprint in round one was like my 200 meter sprint: fast, but at a speed that took its toll.

During the two minute rest, I tried to catch my breath.  However, the bigger problem was that I could feel my hamstrings and calves tightening up.  My body has been broken a lot lately and this was just another example of it.  When the two minute rest was up, we began our second 200 meter sprint.  I had no explosiveness this time and couldn't muster anything resembling a sprint.  Laura, Flounder, Alona, and Jen all took off on me.  Even my 100 meter light jog left a lot to be desired.  Alejandra sprinted the final 100 meters with me on round two.  Just one more round to go.

The good news with not moving fast in round two was that it allowed me to get some of my breath back.  During the second two minute break, I tried to stretch my legs as much as possible.  It helped considerably.  I couldn't stay with Laura on the third 200 meter sprint, but I was able to stay just ahead of Jen.  I had some serious lamaze breathing going on during the 100 meter jog, but it was all I could do to get my wind back before the last 100 meter sprint.  As I did at the end of the 800 meter time trial, I hugged that turn as tight as I could, extending my stride as much as possible to make it to the finish line.

After chugging a bunch of water and doing some light stretches, we did a final cool down lap before calling it a day.  I wish I could have made it to more Endurance classes this year as I feel confident it would have helped my cardio immensely, but such is life.

Weekend preview: Friday was Coach Married Lady Rachel's wedding day, so I didn't work out.  Nor did I work out on Saturday, because...well...I went to the reception.  I got back to it on Sunday where more cardio awaited me!