Is 3:09 a lucky number?

No, that's not my marathon time! It's just what I was locked into at the track this morning.

My alarm went off on time at 5:00am. I turned it off and then the next thing I know I'm jolting myself awake at 5:29. Oh crap. I shave, brush, my teeth, use the "facilities," and am pulling away from the curb at 5:40 -- 10 minutes behind schedule but not a bad recovery.

I took the direct route to the track to make up some time. I had plenty of time before work started, but I was worried there might be some conflict (track practice or something) if I hung around later than I did last week. So after a relatively short 19 minute warmup I started my intervals. I wasn't sure what I was going to run until I got to the track. I read about a multi-paced workout from Matt Fitzgerald's Brain Training book (it's not terrible if you ignore all the claims of originality) that was 3k at HM, 90 sec jog, 2k at 10k pace, 90 sec jog, 1k at 5k pace, 90 sec jog, and 800m at 3k pace. I thought it was pretty interesting, but I already did a tempo run this week and I figured this would give me a whole lot of VO2max time, which I felt like was the right thing to do at this stage. Also, I've done 800s before and had some history that might help me mentally if I had a good workout. Plus, Benji Durden has these in his plan and I'm not going to argue with Benji.

Other than not being able to count to 8 (I only did 7), the workout went great. The intervals (time/peak hr) were: 3:09/175, 3:09/177, 3:09/178, 3:09/179, 3:09/182, 3:08/183, 3:09/184. Pretty consistent. I actually hit the lap button early on the 3:08! I put my finger there to get ready and accidentally hit it (about 2 strides early). These weren't really hard and I feel I could have done another easily and probably 2 more with a little more difficulty. The rests were 400m in (time/min hr): 2:12/142, 2:14/144, 2:14/151, 2:15/150, 2:15/155, and 2:19/154. My heart rate recovered nicely, which is another indicator this wasn't killing me. I normally don't like to cooldown too long after intervals because I don't like the awkward feeling of running on "hardened" legs, but I felt find and went the long way home -- 4.33 miles/8:48 pace/150 bpm AHR. Again my heart rate was decently low for the cooldown considering I did intervals.

Does this mean anything? Well, I think it means I'm in sub-20 5K shape. I'm not sure what it means for the marathon though. Last fall I did 6x0.5 miles on a 10 laps per mile crushed gravel track in slower on average times (3:17/174, 3:13/179, 3:11/181, 3:09/183, 3:11/183, and 3:11/184) with similar peak heart rates, but much lower recovery heart rates (last was 146). My rests were considerably longer then though (2:36, 2:34, 2:23, 2:45, and 2:31). This overanalysis has been brought to you by the letter "A."

Continuing the obsessive compulsive trend, I'll note that Accuweather forecasts an overnight low of 50 and high of 63 and raining on marathon day. 50's and cloudy? I'll take it. Might be muggy though and running in wet shoes would suck. Still, it's better than 70's and sunshine. Of course, it's 10 days out and a magic 8 ball would do better than accuweather.

By the way, positive vibes going to Joseph for tomorrow's 5K. Remember to run 16:59 and not a second slower or faster. I must have those pictures.