Watch Me Go!

This morning I got up at the unGodly hour of 5:15 am, wiped crud out of my eyes, pulled on shorts and a shirt, socks and laced up the Mizunos for my first speed workout with Team Tiara. Today's plan would be for 4x400 with a warm up and cool down. It would also be my first group run and a chance to meet the other participants. I drove the 20 or so minutes to the track and got there about 5:55. There were already 3 people there and by the time we started, there were 10 of us. Obviously, when it comes to speed work, we would all be at different levels and paces, so we ran briefly as a group for the warm up, stopped and stretched, and then began the intervals. I had downloaded my "want" pace from McMillan Running Calculator, but decided not to stress too much if I couldn't there today. After all, I have 16 weeks to get there. My first 400, I messed up - instead of hitting "Lap" on my Garmin, I hit "Stop", so I'm not sure where I was for that. Stupid! I then walked fast the 200m and began the second interval. By this time, I was already soaking wet from the humidity. I ran the second interval in 2:09. Right on pace! Interval 3 and 4 were 2:13 and 2:11. Whoo hoo! Still right in line with where I want to be for a 2:25 HM. My knee felt pretty well, although I still feel it a bit. I'm sure it's either some slight tendonitis or a small strain. I plan to go to yoga tomorrow night and hopefully that will help stretch it out. All things considered, I deem my first speed workout a huge success and I actually enjoyed it tremendously. Tomorrow is an off day from running so my plan is this: yoga, Week 2, day 1 of the 100 Push Up Challenge, and 15 minutes of ab work. I am stoked that I am seeing gains in my strength, conditioning and speed. Pretty soon, maybe I can actually run with my husband! Or at least closer behind him.