Hains Point | heart & sole

Last week started off tough. I was really sore – a couple days of hard running and not keeping up with my stretching and foam rolling had taken its toll. I made up for it with a couple days of serious rolling, stretching and icing and finished the week strong. I’m really enjoying the new training plan I’m on and also liking the group track workouts. We don’t all do the same workout, but it’s nice to have other people in it with you.

Here’s the day by day breakdown…

Monday: After not fitting in the previous week’s track workout when I was back home in Syracuse, I headed out to Hains Point at lunch and ran 5X1000 meters. I was supposed to try and hit 4:38 for each one. I started out a bit too fast, but got the hang of it as I went on hitting my splits in 4:20, 4:30, 4:38, 4:39 and 4:33. After work I got a 40-minute strength workout including a lot of single-leg squats and pistol squats leaving my legs killing me!!

Tuesday: I took my sore legs out for a slow 5.35 mile run around Hains Point.

Wednesday: Today I got in a 30-minute full body strength workout after taking a client through a personal training session.

Thursday: I metroed out to my old stomping grounds at American University after work for a track workout with the DC Running Coach group. Today wasn’t too difficult of a workout, but I felt really great after it and feel like I’m starting to get the hang of the pacing thing. I was set to do 3X1 mile at a 7:25 pace with a 1-minute break and hit my splits at 7:18, 7:22 and 7:21.

Friday: Our office closed at 3 for Memorial Day weekend so I decided to get my long run in early and put in 10.35 miles along the Mall and Hains Point. It was a bit chilly after the warm weather earlier in the week and really windy, but I felt surprisingly strong especially for doing a long run the day after a track workout.

Saturday: Rest day – although it turned into quite a busy day with some apartment hunting (more on that later!) and a fun trip to visit some family in Gettysburg!

Sunday: Today was a perfect day for running. It was absolutely gorgeous out. I put in just more than 6 miles along the rolling hills on the Custis Trail.

I’ve done my last couple of interval speed workouts at Hains Point rather than the track. It’s pancake flat so I’ve found it to be a pretty good substitute for the track if you can deal with the winds that always seem to be strong there. It’s a nice change of pace for me too since it’s close to my office because I can sleep in but still have my speed work done at a decent time – either on my lunch break or I plan to run home on my cool down as soon as I’m done with the repeats so I’m still finished before dinner time.

Speed Intervals around Hains Point

I’ve made myself do all of my interval workouts outdoors this training cycle primarily because I just can’t get myself to take the time to warm up and cool down properly on the treadmill. By about three minutes in I’m ready to speed things up on those things and get going, and forget about a cool down, I’ll just walk it out for a few minutes after my last repeat. Also, even though I can run faster on a treadmill, I feel like I push myself harder outside and get a better measure of where I’m at since I’m not forced to keep up with the speed of the belt.

I was all smiles (at least when I was done) after the last two week’s repeats around Hains Point.

I couldn’t help but think back to my last speed workout on Hains Point when I headed out last week though. It was last summer. I normally love the heat and would rather sweat than shiver any day, but that particular day I headed out on a late lunch break around 3 p.m. on a 98-degree, 90 percent humidity day. I was dehydrated, hadn’t had the healthiest lunch and downed a coke with lunch instead of a water. You might say I wasn’t all that well prepared.

I had eight 600-meter repeats on tap that day and it seriously felt like I stepped into a wall when I walked out of my office into the heat. It was hard to even breathe. Somehow it was still windy along Hains Point, but it was by no means a nice breeze coming from the water – it was just more hot air. I pushed my way through a very ugly and not so speedy speed workout. I was proud of myself for not giving up early and calling it a day, but it was not fun and I definitely was not smiling afterwards. I still shudder when I think about that workout.

How about you – do you have any workouts that haunt you?