First Track Workout in 14 Years

One of my goals for 2009 is to break my personal best mile time of 5:14, set in 1990 at an outdoor track meet in the Spring of my sophomore year in high school.  I figure the best way to prepare is to run a bunch of 400’s and 800’s over the next few months to get my body used to the pace needed to set a personal best.

This morning was my first track workout in 14 years, and I did 6×400m and 1×800m, with about 5 minutes rest (1.5 to 2 laps) between intervals.  Halfway through my first 400m piece, I saw the time was over 45 seconds and I couldn’t believe how quickly time was passing…  I finished the first 400m in 1:41, and did my last 400m in 1:19.

After 6×400m (with lots of rest), I still felt pretty good, so I decided to do an 800m piece, just to gauge my stamina over a half-mile (almost) distance.  I wanted to do it in 2:50, but would have been satisfied with 3:00 since this would have been my first 800m sprint since high school.  I came through 400m in 1:24, so I knew I was within reach of hitting my goal pace.  I felt good through the second half, holding the pace and finished in 2:49.  By comparison, the world record in the 800m is a 1:41.11 set by Wilson Kipketer (a Dane!) in 1997.  Yup, Danes are mighty fast in rowing and running.

My times:

1:  1:41 (400m)

2:  1:30 (400m)

3:  1:27 (400m)

4:  1:23 (400m)

5:  1:21 (400m)

6:  1:19 (400m)

7:  2:49 (800m)

I’m very pleased with where I am right now.  To break a 5:14 mile, I have to do 400’s in 78 seconds, and 800’s in 2:36.  Had I been sufficiently stretched out and perhaps had one day of recovery between this workout and yesterday’s rowing machine and heavy weights workout, I think I could have run a 5:45 mile – “only” 32 seconds from setting a new personal record.  It’s clear my rowing training is satisfactory for running, but I plan to do regular track workouts for the next few months to gauge my progress toward this goal.  I think between these track workouts, the weightlifting, and the volume of AT work I’ll be doing on the rowing machine over the next four months, I’ll be ready to set a new record in the middle of September – perhaps a good time of year, when the air is not too humid and the morning temperatures are not too hot.  When I can pound out 6×400m each in 75 seconds and then 2×800m each in 2:33, with no more than 4 minutes rest between intervals (one veeeeery slow lap), then I’ll be ready to set a new personal record.