Stride Work

It would have been ideal to run this morning before the heat moved in, but alas, a work meeting was scheduled and I wasn't able to get up early enough to run beforehand and by the time I left the school it was already very warm.

Not a big deal though, as I came home and hunkered down inside with the A/C on full blast while watching the Tour de France. The plan was to hit the track in the evening when it cooled down some, but by the time I left at 7pm it was still 88 degrees. Ugh.

After the warm-up, I was already drenched in sweat. Ditched the shirt and then started my plan of doing 100M strides on the straights with 100M active recovery on the bends of the track. Purpose was to get some leg turnover and work on form. I like doing this workout during the taper, as it feels good to get the legs moving but it's short enough not to wear you out.

Had planned on 10 reps but upped it to 12, just because. Went well. Didn't bother taking individual split times since I didn't see the point, especially since stride work involves a gradual acceleration throughout and not an all out sprint from the get-go.

Afterwards, ditched the shoes and hit the adjacent athletic fields for a barefoot cool down. I noticed the swallows were out and about, performing some pretty acrobatic maneuvers but thankfully none dive bombed me like they did last year.

w/u - Ran 1.2 miles @ 8:40/mile pace.
12 X 100M Strides w/ 100M active recovery = Ran 1.5 miles @ 6:30/mile pace.
c/d - Ran 1.1 miles @ 8:56/mile pace.

Grassy fields for warm-up and cooldown, track for strides.
Upper to mid 80s, hazy sunshine.
Brooks Mach 11 for warm-up and strides, barefoot for cooldown. Shorts. Short sleeved shirt for warm-up, ditched for strides and cooldown.