Wednesday, July 07, 2010

I heart 200s

Last night I got to do 200s- a distance I’d never really trained with before (normally my "speedwork" has been more about the 400s and 800s than sprints and 200s). This is part of Coach Paul’s “build up my strength by killing me now” programme.

The 200s were great because I got to go FAST (my average paces were around 3:30/km), but I never totally wanted to die the way you do with a 400 (sorry 400s, I love you too, y'know). I'd the first 75m or so building into my rhythm, the next 75 huffing and puffing and pushing, and the last 50 focussed on our finish marker and straining to get there.

Anyway, the cool thing is that I was able to hit all of my (ten) 200s between 43 and 46 seconds- despite being on a cobbled path instead of a track, but with the benefit of a tailwind to cancel that out! (and according to Garmin they were definitely on the long side rather than the short side) This isn't particularly fast or anything, but it IS faster than my VDOT formula says I should be (it says 51s, based on my recent 10k time). Now, normally, I do not advocate trying to beat the VDOT numbers, but when the goal is to go all out, I think it’s OK to do it, and to be pleased.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Glad you enjoyed Kate...
And congrats on beating your v-dot! The goal is to go All Out... but to be able to maintain it for each 200m,
The result show's that your speed actually isn't too bad... but it's endurance where you will get the biggest improvements... though this takes time of course.
Good structure to each 200m run btw

Maggs said...

I hear ya on 200s. I've been doing a LOT of them lately. And I kind of like them, until I get to the last 2. Those hurt. And so does the cool down jog home.

Mike said...

Your blog makes me want to go do 'speedwork' but past experience tells me I get injured when I try to increase the pace too much. Good work btw! )

Lisa (bakebikeblog) said...

oooh I completely prefer 200s to 400s!!!!