Getting Real: 1ks in 3:20

I was super nervous for the workout I was about to do. I wasn’t sure why. It’s not like this was my first workout, or even first workout on an indoor track… but, it was the first workout where Jerry had written goal times similar to what I ran pre-Trials.

I explained to Leigh on the warm up, “Before this workout, I’ve just been excited to make progress. Some of my first 1000m workouts I looked forward to breaking 4. Then breaking 3:50. But now… I don’t know… this is the first workout that I’ve seen goal times that I know were from “back in the day”. It’s just getting real, Leigh! Jerry and I aren’t just hoping to improve now – we’re starting to go for it”.

I’m still in that good mental spot – just looking for, and excited to see, improvements. But now, those improvements meant I had this workout:

12/27/2017:
3x 1000m at 3:20.

Yep, 3:20.

I remembered hitting a couple of workouts where I did 5-6x 1000s in 3:18-3:20 before or after the Trials. I didn’t look anything up before hand; I’ve learned not to do that. What good comes of knowing how fast you once were?

Gen UCAN sent me this awesome hat yesterday! What a cool company. I love their products, love the people that work for them, and love the support they give me. I am one lucky girl. Thank you, UCAN, for believing in me!!!

I got to the indoor track facility, warmed up with Leigh and Lizzy (her friend), and calmed the butterflies in my stomach. It was just 3 repeats. Jerry’s voice, or my thoughts, one of the two:

“You need to start hitting these paces if you want to get back there”.

“You can do 600m at this pace, right? What’s so hard about hanging on for another 400m?”

The first one I came through at exactly 3:20. My lungs were on fire, legs like jello. I gasped for air (doesn’t help that I have a little bit of a cold). 3:20!!

Then, I held on for a 3:24, 3:26.

These felt like I had raced. My lungs were seared. I was done. Without a doubt, I left it all out there. How in the heck could I do 5 to 6 of these in sub 3:20 before? Dang, I was fast. After I stopped wheezing, I couldn’t stop coughing. I nearly coughed up puke right before we started our cool down. I had to get back to work right away afterwards (I hadn’t planned on coughing continuously!!), so shut my office door so as not to make my colleagues hear me coughing and hacking. Sorry about that, work-mates.

My abs are still sore from all of that coughing. Super.

It has been really cold in MN the last week. The track workout I’m writing about was done inside, but I really try to get outside no matter the weather. This picture was from a 10 miler done at 0 degrees, windchill of -26. It’s pretty, in a way, since it seems like the world is completely quiet. Hardly anyone is out. It’s sunny & clear too – very beautiful! Just chilly 🙂

On the one hand, I was a little bummed I couldn’t hang on to 3:20s. On the other hand, though, I know that back in June I was super happy with a 3:44 average (this blog post has a nice run-down of all of my 1k repeat times since after Anna was born. I’ve done a lot of them!).

Or here, where I averaged 3:33s. That was just 6 weeks ago.

Then, tonight, I decided to find some of those old workouts. I couldn’t find anything that was a consistent 3:18-20 like I thought (I didn’t look through everything), but I did find these:

9/11/2011 (~11 weeks after my 2:44:46 Grandma’s Marathon, but before the Trials):
3 WU, 6×1000: 3:26, 3:23’s for rest. 4×400 in 77, 78, 77, 77. couldn’t go any faster! 5 CD.

10/30/2011:
Just 1.5 WU (got out late from work), then 6×1000 with YMCA guys outdoors 3:24, 3:21, 3:19, 3:22, 3:19, 3:33 (fell apart last one). Then 400s, 1:20 or so (little slower). Couldn’t move at end!

Not 1ks, but an 800m workout before qualifying at Grandma’s (just because I’m curious where I was at then!):

5/7/2011:
10x800m at RW track. 3.5 mile wu, 2:45, 2:42.48, 2:42.xx, 2:43.75, 2:43.03, 2:43.28, 2:41.43, 2:43.93, 2:43.99, 2:44.09, 3.25 mile CD

More randomly inserted family pictures. Anna and I at the Christmas Eve service.

You guys, I’m not sure, but I think I could come close to the workout on 9/11. Hard to say as there were 6 of them… and yes, the 9/11 workout was after an 85 mile week and at the start of a 100 mile week… I am nowhere near strong enough to do workouts like this inside high mileage… and there’s a chance that I could run the 800m times from 5/7 through maybe 6 repeats? Maybe all 8 (probably not – but there’s a small chance!)?…

I think what I’m trying to say is that for the first time, I’m thinking that getting back to where I once was might be more possible than I originally thought. Before it was just one of those, “Yeah, let’s just see” type of dreams. You know, the ones that sound nice, but are so “out there” that you don’t think too much, or too hard, about them?

Now it’s one of those, “Really? It might be possible? Ohhhh….”. And then I remember how hard I worked day in and day out to get to where I was… and that type of work, that type of grit, is terrifying in a way.

Like I told Leigh, “It’s getting real now”.

Next week I get to do 800s. Last workout I averaged 2:44s. I’m really looking forward to seeing what I can do!

More pictures. Me and Nate at the mall buying me a new phone because I dropped my other one in the toilet.Greta asked me for the next 2 days why I dropped my phone in the toilet. Good question, kid. Good question.