Week 2 - Key Run Workout #1

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After 2 energy sapping afternoon track workouts in the heat and humidity last week, I decided to try an early morning run today in the hope of an improved performance. I set my alarm for 4:30am (one hour earlier than usual), rolled out of bed and was out of the door 10 minutes later.

The first thing that struck me was how dark it was. Even with street lighting it took a while for my eyes to adjust to the road in front of me.
The second thing that hit was how humid it was. I guessed the temperature was in the low 70s °F, but even after half a mile the sweat was pouring off me. Luckily I’d strapped on my RunLite Hydration Belt, so I wasn’t too worried and knew the water would be a lifesaver later on.

Today’s Key Run Workout #1 called for a one mile warm up, 4×800m on the track with a 2 minute recovery between each repeat, and a 10 minute cool down. I jogged to the local track which is just over a mile away - a little further than the schedule called for but as I was still half asleep the extra warm up was definitely useful. I threw in a few strides in the hope of waking my legs up, stretched a little, sipped some of the water I was carrying before leaving the belt on the track, and then I was off.

At this time of day there was obviously no-one else crazy enough to be on the track. It was very dark and the only sounds were the clank, clank, clank of a flag on a flag pole and the hiss, hiss, hiss of the infield sprinkler system. Goal pace for my 800m repeats was 2:38 and I guessed going into the workout I’d have little chance of hitting those times. I hit the lap button after 800m (2 laps of the track) which triggered the backlight on my Garmin GPS and revealed a split of 2:57. Slow, very slow….but strangely it felt much faster. Must be the running in the dark sensation that many runners talk about where your actual pace turns out to be much slower than perceived pace.

After walking 100m to take on more water, and a 300m jog back to the start line, I was off again. This time my 800m took 2:56, a fraction quicker, but still too slow. My max heart rate had only peaked at 164 beats per minute, so I knew I had more to offer - it was just hard running in the dark and I wasn’t really getting a good handle on my pace. No matter, after a similar recovery it was time for repeat #3. I tried to up the tempo and this time managed a 2:53 with a max heart rate of 168bpm. By this time I was drenched in sweat and really glad I’d brought water with me.

There’s something about the last repeat of a track workout. No matter how hard you’ve worked previously, and how tired you thought you were, you can always push yourself just that little bit harder knowing it’s the last one. I set off at speed (probably a bit too fast to be honest), and tried to maintain a fast cadence and relaxed rhythm for the remainder of the 800m. Split time was 2:51 (fastest of the 4) and max heart rate 170bpm.

The jog home was all about flushing lactic acid from my legs, drinking water to rehydrate, watch the rising sun in the distance and listen to the world waking up. There’s something special about an early morning workout. It sets you up for the day and makes you feel good about yourself as you go about your normal business. On reflection, even though I didn’t hit my target times, I did manage to complete the prescribed workout and was able to get faster as I worked my way through the repeats. I also know it would have been much more difficult to achieve these results in the afternoon, so maybe this 4:30am wake up call will turn in to a regular thing……