Heel Strike to Pose: The Journey Begins

This morning I hit Central Park at 6am to do 200 meter sprints in preparation for the Pump and Run and the Brooklyn Half.  The plan was to do between 10 and 12 of them, and to do them 5% faster than my target 5K pace, with exactly 90 seconds rest in between.  And I wanted to keep the time consistent each round.    

My 5K time trial last week was 26:27.  I don't know that I can realistically shave a minute off by April 22nd, but, for training purposes, I've selected 25:30 as my goal time.  So, I wanted to do these sprints in ~58 seconds (~7:45).

This is a significantly slower pace than I did 200s at in the fall when I was marathon training, but it's been a while. And, most importantly, I'm finally trying to correct my form and start Pose running.  I've been talking about making this switch for a long time, and I've given up on waiting for a "convenient" time.

Here's what happened this morning (for the good stuff, click on details):

Speed:

My first two 200s were too slow, above an 8:00 pace, which means I probably needed more warm-up time.  After that, I managed to stay below 7:44 on each sprint.  

Consistency:

I wasn't consistent at all.  I got as fast as 7:13.  I find the 200m distance especially difficult to pace because as soon as I glance down at my Garmin, it's over.  On the longer distances, there's a little more time to make adjustments.

Form:

For at least the first seven sprints, I managed to stay on the balls of my feet.  I hope that I looked like a figure four, but I'm honestly not sure.  At the very end, though, I was totally back to heel striking.  On the plus side, heel striking did not feel good.  

Rest Accuracy:

Most of my 90 second rests were 5-10 seconds too long.  When I hit the lap button on my Garmin, the screen changes and I lose the current time for a few seconds, so then I have to guess a bit and I guess I'm underestimating how long that transition takes.

So, all in all, it wasn't the greatest run, but it wasn't bad.  It was a beautiful morning to be out there.  (And I made friends with an adorable Irish Setter who, much to the chagrin of her owner, really wanted to run with me!)

Tonight, it's 3-3-3-3-3-3 shoulder presses at CrossFit Metropolis.  I'm a little bit angsty about how much weight to start with because I always max out too early on presses...

I'll keep you posted!

-Gym Belle-