Speed work, race modeling

I'm glad to be in Sewanee for this morning's workout.  73º and humid at 5:00am.   Murfreesboro reported 80º at 4:00am, so I'm glad I'm on the mountain.  Heat advisory for part of Middle TN today.

Right now at 8:00 am, it is a gorgeous morning here on Iska's patio in Sewanee.  77º with a light breeze, sun filtering through the shady trees.

I am slightly sore in the haunches and the groin is a bit tight from yesterday's resistance work.   I might also be a bit heavier from last night's fish tacos.

Continuing the progression I started 2 workouts ago, I again decreased my first 200m split another second to 28 and still was able to maintain a 28.5 second 200m - giving me a solid 56.5 400m this morning.   It was tiring, but not sickening.  I really believe it was faster or comparable to my last race of 56.61, but it didn't feel as hard. I felt only slight rigging in the last 50m, but was able to maintain good form throughout.   My splits were about 14/14/14/14.5.

550m warmup, stretches, drills 

Puma spikes on 

400m - 56.5  (28, 28.5) 

3 x 200m - 26.5, 26.5, 26

The 200s were at what I would hope to be about race pace in the 400m.   If I were able to maintain that 28.5 2nd 200, that would put me near PR time.  I really now think I'm starting to understand this race and the mechanisms involved, and my limitations.

Next I'll take the first 200m back another second to 27, and see if I can maintain that 28.5 second 200m.    That would be 55.5, and I've never run that fast in training.

In a race, I need to blast the first 50m like I'm running a 100m, then shift my focus on the last half of the first turn to conserve energy while maintaining pace.  If I do this right, I feel almost no fatigue at 100m, and I'm not even yet breathing at maximum capacity on the backstretch.   Until the 220m mark, this is all a prelude.... the race begins on the final turn.  When I attack at about 220m, my breathing changes radically, becoming deep and faster, and I then shift more toward aerobic energy systems.  At 250m, for the first time since the initial start, I'm pushing at near 100% effort while trying to maintain form and relax.

I've said this many times, but it's a fine fine line.   What I've conserved in the second 100m will come back to me in the last 100m.  It's so easy to panic in a race and not be patient and go out too fast.   I need to get to the point where I can run blind and know exactly what my pace is and be where I should be and not even think about the competition.   People will always go out too fast,  It happens even on the highest levels.

I remember the 2011 Masters Nationals M50 400m final.  T. Williams, who won the bronze, was 15m behind me going into the last turn!   I was at least 1.0 second too fast on the first 200m - about 25.5.  I rigged so badly in the last 100m, it's painful to even watch.  My last 100m was about 18sec.   Never do that again... I hope.

I'm still losing crowns off my Puma's almost every run, even ones that I've epoxied and glued.   It's always the same ones, the outside ones.  Maybe I could get a machine shop to make me a few of these out of aluminum or something.

Next workout, Sat at MTSU.