I had track training last night. (I found a well marked, nice track!) 4x1000, same intervals as two weeks ago (I'm repeating 2 weeks of training). It actually went quite a bit better than last time. My goal was to run 4:01 repeats - two weeks ago I fell slightly short on the last interval. Last night: 3:58, 4:01, 3:59, 3:58. Either my tempos last week were the exception, or my lactate threshold is disproportionally weaker than my other parameters. In either case, I will know what to do.

I got a little behind with my training plan last week. My Tuesday tempo was awful. I was working, standing all day, barely had time to drink, so I think I was dehydrated by the evening run, and it was hot outside. Also, I picked a somewhat hilly course. I tried to run 1 mile warmup, 4 miles at 7:00, and 1 mile cooldown. My first fast mile was 7:05. Slightly disappointed, I tried to run faster, and the result was a 7:18 second mile. Then I completely ran out of steam during the third mile and I had to stop and jog (almost limp) home.

I wanted to repeat the tempo on Thursday (after resting on Wednesday). This time I drank enough during the day and it was somewhat cooler, but I still worked a lot that day. My fast miles were 6:53, 7:01, 7:18, 7:11. Not good. I also felt totally hammered at the end.

Then I came down with a cold on Friday. I was so sick that I didn't run on Friday and Saturday. I was better on Sunday, but I had a lot of work to do (deadline on Monday), so I didn't run. What a bum week.

I think I'll repeat the last two weeks of training. I will have to pick a new goal race then. Maybe I tried to do too much, or the cold virus was in me since Tuesday. Or something - it is no good to find excuses.

I just feel that I'm so slow, and I'll never run sub-20.

Here is my last quality workout (track) from last night: 2800 m warmup, 4 x 1000 m fast (splits: 4:01, 4:01, 4:01, 4:04 - I was on the right pace for the last repeat at 800 m, but I managed to lose 3 seconds in the last 200) with 400 m recoveries. 1600 m cooldown. Total: ~ 6 miles.

On Tuesday, I went out (actually drove) to the T & F facility on UofL campus to do a tempo run, and I managed to mess it up badly. Amazingly, I forgot the workout I was supposed to do, and I started to run 1 mile intervals instead of 2. I only realized it after the second interval, when the mileage for the day didn't add up. So I lost my enthusiasm for the night and I finished the run as a fast 4-miler, which took a lot more out of me than it should have.

Yesterday I decide to do the correct workout, even though I wasn't that well rested. I drove out this time to a park and I ran 2 x 2 miles LT intervals at 7 min/mile pace. It was great, I felt good. I finished with 6.5 miles for the day.

On Tuesday I had my first track training in a while. It was 5 x 800 m with 400 m recoveries. The 800s were supposed to be run in 3:15. I ran on an asphalt track at a local high school. The track was fine. After the first 800 I thought it was a 400 yard track, because my time was so good (3:06 - but this was after I saw that my first 400 was 1:32 and I slowed down a bit). It turns out that I was just not used to track training, because I had to work hard toward the end to maintain 3:15. Fitness-wise it seems like I am where I am supposed to be. In 12 weeks I hopefully can crush 20 minutes.

Interesting note: the GPS watch I'm using was quite inaccurate on the track: it measured anything from 385 meters to 401 meters for one lap, typically measuring about 5-10 meters shorter distance per lap.

Edit: after some further research, I've found that there are basically no 400-yard tracks in the US. The old, (and by now quite rare) imperial tracks were 440 yards long, which is exactly 1/4 mile and a little above 2 meters longer than 400 meters.