800's!!!!!

Why ice is my friend right now.

I couldn't find my clothes, didn't know where to go or how to get there, and knew that I was late. I was climbing into the side of a bus via an open window when I woke up.

A stress dream about the workout today and the marathon. Whew! And I knew today was going to be tough. Gorgeous had persuaded me to do 800's with her.

I wisely didn't ask how many. No need to know until it is too late! Plus, I thought we were doing a version of the 800's then tempo run we had done long ago before. I don't get out for speedwork much.

Ran to GAP. Chilly! Knowing we were going to be going fairly fast, though, I shivered through the run to GAP, forgoing the jacket that I really, really wanted to be sporting.

Up comes Gorgeous with a smile on her face. "How many?" "Oh. 10." I found out at the same time that there was no tempo run, so it mitigated the shock.

Really? 10? That was more than I have ever done before in my life.

"It gives you confidence", she explained. "You take your goal marathon time and then do 10 800's, taking the same time in minutes and seconds that you want to do the marathon in hours and minutes. Then, take a break in-between the 800's of the same length."

We settled on 3:15 as our goal pace. From the humidity and the cold, I knew it would be a challenge. During each one, I kept reminding myself that we ran somewhere around this same pace in Bed-Stuy, without stopping. So why were these so hard?

Gorgeous was visibly holding back on the first several, checking herself and slowing down at certain points to stay with me. I expect she could have done all of them much faster than we did. I just tried to hold on.

Good thing: we did all but one in 3:15 or faster. And the one we didn't do in 3:15 was 3:17 and it was something like the 3rd. In the last two 800s, with a flip of her ponytail and a quick sideways smile, Gorgeous was gone.
By the last one, I watched her get smaller and smaller as she pistoned her legs down the side of the park. My quad had started getting sore and so I didn't want to go too fast. Plus, I was tired! Convinced that I had slowed down terribly, I glanced at my watch as I finished up. 3:14:50 something. She just had so much gas left she was able to significantly speed up! Wow.

Doing speedwork with her is good for me but not so good for her. Just happy she agrees to do it sometimes!

Now, I'm icing in the hopes that my quad will quiet down. Fingers crossed!