practicing my hammer throw

today i was a professional runner, sort of. i took off work early in order to hit the track and complete my 7xmile repeats before the sun went down, so essentially i was running and getting paid for it. (had to use a couple hours of my time off but still, i was getting paid. i'm lucky my boss is cool enough to let me take the afternoon off to go running!)

anyway, being able to do this workout in the daylight really helped with my mentality. i actually kind of looked forward to it all day. my shoes stayed tied, i had no bathroom emergencies, and i exceeded my goals for the day.

i forgot to check my schedule so i wasn't too sure how many and what pace i needed to hit, but i was pretty sure i was supposed to do 7xmile. i figured i'd aim for about a 6:55 for the first two, and then 6:50 for the next two, 6:45 for miles 5 and 6, and then go for broke on the last repeat.

1xmile - 6:55, 177
2xmile - 6:51, 183
3xmile - 6:48, 182
4xmile - 6:47, 182
5xmile - 6:45, 183
6xmile - 6:37, 185
7xmile - 6:30, 185

mile 1 was dead on. i felt decent throughout and my hr dropped quickly back to the 150's during my recovery jog. my breathing was easy (the 63 degree weather probably helped a lot with that) and legs felt good. i felt pretty solid throughout each mile, easily found the pace, kept recovering quickly, and didn't really ever start to feel tired. since i was ahead of my 'plan' most of the time anyway, i decided to attempt "throwing the hammer down" for the last two repeats instead of just the final one. i figured since i didn't have anything to give at the end of atlanta, i ought to practice. the 6:37 and 6:30 miles were the 10th and 11th miles of the workout, so i'm pretty content with the hammer-throwing effort.

for whatever reason, i got trans siberian orchestra's "carol of the bells" in my head during #6. it's pretty up tempo so i ran with it. (har har.) i did sing the tune in my head though, out of order and dragging some sections out so that i could get to the finale build-up section as i rounded the last curve of the track. (if you watch the video linked above it's the part around 4:51.) random, and probably dorky, but it motivated me to pick it up and bring it home. it worked so well in #6 i did it in #7 too. i don't think i could run off the song for an entire race as it got a little old, but it did the job for today.

pm run: 11.75 miles (incl. 7xmile with 800m jogs), 1:37:33 (8:18 avg pace), avg/max hr (171/193)