The struggles of a small time runner

[Stathakis]

Hey guys, I'm probably one of the only people here whose goal isn't to get stronger. I'm a 800/1500 guy, so there's not all that much use for lifting weights, though I do from time to time. Here I'll log all my running, sort of as a tool to 1) check my progress in workouts 2) hopefully have some of you guys keep me accountable.

Here are my current (well, old) PRs in the relevant events
400: 53.2
800: 2:07
1600: 4:49
5k: 17:38


goals
800: 2:00
1500: 4:15
1600: 4:35

My workouts depend largely on what the coaches want me to do on any given day, but as a rule of thumb hard track workouts are monday and wednesday, there's a tempo (usually 4 miles, sometimes 5. I don't like tempos) on friday, and sunday is the long run. in between is mostly just a lot of easy jogging. I also try to do an easy 5 in the morning of most days, but never the long run day. it all depends on how I feel. so yeah! we're off!

[Stathakis]

our first really fast workout was yesterday, so I suppose I may as well post it.

we started out with an easy mile, dynamic stretches, the usual. then our coach told us we were going to do repeats of 4x300m, 4x400m, and 4x500m. a little aggressive for so early in the season but alright.

I ran the first 300 in 37 (hand timed), which was quite fast, and it felt very good and relaxed. I guess those high end strides and hill sprints over the summer paid off! Coach told me to slow down a little bit, so the next 3 were in 44, 46, and 44 again. about 2 minutes of rest in between.

We took a longer rest, and it was time for the 400s. I took it a little bit easier on these, going through in 70, 71, 74, and 69, in that order. the last one hurt.

Then the 500s came around, and I was quite tired at this point. I clocked in 85, 90, 92, and 95, in that order. We took a 800m cooldown jog and did some static stretches, then I walked 1 mile home.


Last year I was able to handle ridiculous (relatively speaking) workouts such as 15x400 in sets of 5, 1min between each repetition and 3 min between each set, all under 70. so these times aren't really all THAT impressive. but what I'm really excited about is that 37 second 300, mainly because of how good it felt. I felt like I could keep that pace for 100 more meters, if not speeding it up a little. keeping that pace for 100 more meters would put me right around 50 seconds for the 400 (well, 37.0 pace would put me at 49.3, but I doubt the 300 time was 100% accurate), which is 3 better than my all out PR, so I'm pretty stoked about that. like REALLY stoked. I've been just doing long runs all summer with a few days of short strides and hill sprints mixed in, so you could say my work has been mostly endurance based. to find that random high end speed so early in the season after working primarily on endurance means that I have a good shot at 2:00 or maybe even 1:59 or 1:58 this year, which would be great. THIS IS MY YEAR BABY!!!