Notes
I'd been looking forward to driving up to Ames to do a grass workout, which is why I planned to be rested going in and why it was disheartening these past few days to just feel tired and having tight calves. But there were some good signs this morning and they seemed to outweigh the bad ones.
The morning felt like headwaters because it was a crisp drive but also sunny. I looked up the last time I visited the Iowa State XC course and it was late fall 2018 when it was pretty cold with frost all over. Today was quite the difference, freshly mowed and looking great. No surprise that there were a few more people than last time.
2mile warm-up, then 1mile tempo that felt surprisingly good with a sub 6 time. I put on my spikes for some 1200's:
4:01: started way too fast thanks to the spikes and pushing it as I started into the wind for 100m. I eased off but gave myself a faster starting mark than planned.
4:01: again started too fast, maybe scared that I needed to in order to hit the time.
4:00: Much more even pace this time. Legs are feeling great. Breathing isn't so great but my stomach is persevering despite starting the run with that water sloshing feeling.
3:59: I'm needing to keep the pressure on now to keep pace. Mostly happy with how good 4 has felt. 4 was the goal, but I really wanted 5, so I did a 5th even with a tightening left hamstring.
4:01: Though I didn't go faster, this was still a good rep. I was still relatively relaxed and I finished knowing without a doubt that I could do another 1 (or more) faster.
But I had a little more to do instead. 3 x 30sec hill repeats that felt a little out of control. Then 2 quite short barefoot sprints. I did those 2 on a slight downhill with the wind at my back for a crazy fast cadence.
1mile cool-down to finish. Probably should have done more but the barefoot wasn't feeling idyllic. Maybe just the shorter grass or just me being tired.