Heading to bed on Monday night I was sure I would run in the morning to beat the heat. I slept in, didn’t run and pushed it off to the afternoon. When I got home it was 90 degrees and humid so I pushed it off until 7:30 hoping that the few degrees drop in temp would turn an unbearable workout into doable. I got wrapped up making an au gratin potatoes recipe that promised to devour 2.5 pounds of the tomato explosion from our garden and wasn’t able to get out the door until 8:00. The track closes at dark and I was afraid I wasn’t going to get the workout in.

The plan was Fatigue Fighter Intervals, the plan reads "Combine speed and pace intervals nearly back to back, very short recoveries, to work on maintaining pace and staying relaxed as you gradually tire. Yes there challenging. 2 x [400 SI (100), 1200 CI (200), 2000 PI]”. For me this meant 400s in 87 secs the 1200 in 4:30 and the 2000 in 7:55. Just reading this workout on the calendar I felt it was going to be impossible but when I actually starting running it, things weren’t so bad. It went like this.

400 - 84 (47)
400 – 83 (52)
1200 – 4:25 (66)
2000 – 7:51 (2:04) there was no guidance so I ran a 400 recovery here with a quick stop for water.
400 - 87 (60)
400 – 85 (50)
800 – 2:59 (79) somehow I ran only an 800 here instead of 1200. I didn’t even realize until I got home that it was short. A definite lapse.
2000 – 7:51 and done.

It was very close to dark when I finished, some light on the horizon but not enough to read my watch by. I was ready to plead for a few a extra laps at the end if I had to, luckily I got in the workout before they closed. I was pleased to really nail the workout. I would say the second set felt very similar to the first.

I devoured some the potatoes au gratin when I got home. It was good but next time I’ll use more cheese.