Our second track workout was on my schedule tonight. The rain was coming down pretty hard on and off during my commute, and I kept changing mind.

Do I head to the track in the rain, or figure out the intervals and do the speed work on the treadmill?

By the time I got home, it was only lightly raining. I checked the weather radar map, and it looked like we might get a brief break. There was another patch of rain after it, so I knew I was going to get wet, but I threw on a hat and went for it.

And actually, it wasn’t that bad! It was cool, but not too cold (upper 50s), so the rain wasn’t miserable. Much better than the heat and humidity we had last week!

Last time, we alternated eight 400-meter laps at a fast pace with eight 400-meter slow recovery lap. This week, it was 400 meters fast / 300 meters recovery times 10. I have a 55-minute 10K goal, and for this our coach gave me a 2:02 goal pace for each fast lap.

Here’s the breakdown:

Last week:
1. 1:54
2. 2:08
3. 1:59
4. 1:56
5. 2:07
6. 1:59
7. 2:00
8. 1:59

Even thought I was checking my time around each 100-meter mark, I still had a hard time finding my goal pace!

Tonight:
1. 1:54
2. 1:59
3. 2:03
4. 2:01
5. 2:02
6. 2:04
7. 2:04
8. 2:02
9. 2:01
10. 2:03

Much better. Maybe I’m getting the hang of this!

It probably wasn’t just the cooler temperature that made this run feel better. I wasn’t wiping myself out by going too fast. Even with the shorter recovery, I felt really good tonight. (I don’t know if I’ll say that next week, when the recovery is cut to 200 meters!)

Before my cool-down jog home (I don’t live far from the track), I decided today was a good day to break out these:

I had low expectations, but they were actually pretty good!