Speed Work

5:20 am track work outs are surreal.  This morning I did a workout that's goal is to fire up the anaerobic furnace and force my body to use oxygen more efficiently.  Running before the sun comes up is one thing.  Asking your body to run at a sub 6 minute mile pace is another.  I warmed up with an easy mile jog and then started my workout.  It takes two minutes for the body to get into an anaerobic state so really running 800m repeats at a  high rate of speed should do the trick.  My original goal was to run 3x1600 @ 5:55 pace, but my mind was not having that this morning.  I ran the following 1200m 1000m 800m 400m 400m.  I could do a full recovery on any run that is shorter than 800m.  With a 400 meter you need to repeat within two minutes of the start of the last one.  Once a week I am going to work on building off of this workout.  I am a little bit of a wimp when it comes to track workouts.  Running in oxygen debt makes me feel a little uneasy, but I do know that if I put the work in now, I will reap the rewards later on while racing.