When was the last time you ran 530 for 1600m?

Dustin asked me that question the other day when I was in Boston, and we were discussing 5K pace. After thinking about it, I responded that it must have been around last summer when training for Portland (ie, for a race prep). Our conversation concluded with me agreeing that it would probably be better to be conservative when running the first 5K out the box.

Anyway, this afternoon I was progressively feeling better as time passed, so I decided to go get in a run. I did not look at the temp, but just left the house. The initial plan was to do mile intervals at 6 min pace (ie, lactate threshold work). Once I got to the track at around 330pm, I realized it was pretty warm out. And thus I did not want to do the intervals.

I don't know that what I decided to do (vo2 max work) was any easier: 1600m @ 525, 800m @ 234, 400m@ 70, 4x 200m (37, 32, 34, 29). I felt really good on the mile muscularly, but my cardio system was working overtime. I wimped out on the 800 - was thinking to go under 230, but that shit hurt muscularly. I cruised and stayed relaxed on the 400, but I still have some deep ingrained mental thing against the quarter. The 200s were a breeze...

Tomorrow I hope to get in an easy run.