Climbing The Fence

I climbed the fence this morning.

I got up at 4:50 a.m. and headed out to the Middle School track because I knew they still had construction going on at Westwood's track. And besides that, the Middle School has GREAT stairs to run, and I have been wanting to start doing that. I haven't run those stairs since I played High School basketball (13 years ago), and I think I could handle them much better now. I am not the same person I was then. So, all that aside, I got out and walked up to the fence to find that it was locked - each and every gate. What's up with that? Why would they lock that track? Is the public not allowed to use it? Do our tax dollars not go for things like that? I am going to find out soon. So I looked around, looked up to the top of the fence as I considered climbing, and saw barbed wire at the top.

"Nope...I won't be climbing this fence. Westwood's looking a lot better right now."

So I get back in the car, upset that I have wasted 10 minutes of my precious morning workout time, and head to Westwood, where everything is locked as well - but no barbed wire. I threw my Gatorade and phone over the fence, held on to my key chain with my teeth, and started climbing. As I was on my way down on the other side, I made a mental note to save some energy to get back over when I was done.

"It would really suck to get stuck inside....don't kill yourself on that last 800 this time."

So I did a half mile warmup, 6 x 800s with a 400 recovery in between, and then a half mile cool down at the end. AND, this time I jogged all the recoveries except 1(I walked the 3rd), which is something I've been trying to start doing. Times were as follows(Interval Time - Recovery Time):

800 warmup: 5:13

1. 3:40 - 2:47
2. 3:38 - 2:51
3. 3:38 - 5:22
4. 3:37 - 3:04
5. 3:39 - 3:02
6. 3:41

800 cooldown: 5:09

Not great, but not bad by my standards either. As I was coming around the 4th turn on my 3rd interval the sky had lit up enough that I noticed there was about a foot of space between the fence and the new building they are working on at the track. I was relieved that I wouldn't have to climb the fence again - I just slipped right through and took off after I finished!!

I had a fairly good week of workouts last week - a couple days of swimming, a nice long brick with Michele, and a "sorta long" run of 8.25 miles Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. in some HEAT. I am still trying to decide what events I will do next.

Briar competed in the Kids of Steel Youth Triathlon Saturday morning. He did really well, ended up 5th in a tough age group, and we had a good time. I'll have a race report for that one coming soon.

Also, a big Congrats to Michele, who placed 2nd in her AG in her first duathlon, and congrats to Elizabeth who finished her first Half IronMan!