duchossois

Yesterday, for the first time in two months, I tried some speed work. I went to the track, planning to do three one-mile intervals. Wayne and Mark were there when I arrive, and Steve H. showed within a few minutes. We warmed up for a few miles first, then stretched. I felt reasonable loose by my standards for 'loose'. (I don't actually touch my toes, but I do give them a good looking at.)

The four of us lined up and started the first mile together. Mark, of course, finished well ahead of the rest of us, I estimate at about 5:15. I ran it in 6:00 minutes even, which was faster than I had planned, but still Steve and Wayne were right there around 6:15. I felt the burning in my Achilles, but it was not too bad and I decided to continue. I did a slow 400 yards to recover, then we lined up to start the second mile. Funny about that, as I pushed off at the start, I felt a twinge in my Achilles, which made me instinctively try to take the weight off my foot. I ended up doing a sort of jump-hop and came right out of my shoe. I slip it back on, and then tried to keep running, but the Achilles pain had gotten into my head. I pulled up short after half a lap, stretched, retied my shoe, and then rejoined the run. I finished with a time of about 6:30, adjusted for down-time probably about a 6:10. After another minute or two of recovery and reassessment of the Achilles pain (still tolerable), I decided I wasn't going to go home without completing the three fast miles I had planned to do, so I lined up for the last mile. As soon as we left the line, I got the stupid idea that I would try to run the first quarter mile with Mark. I managed to stay with him for a little while before he began to pull away. Mark is only slightly competitive, so I suspect that with me on his shoulder, he picked up his pace in that first quarter mile to drop me. Regardless, I am sure that was the fastest quarter mile I've run in many, many years. I did slow up after than, but managed about a 6:10 mile.
We ended the session with about a mile and a half of slow recovery. I went home and realized I had not once thought about my quads, even though it is only a week since Boston. That might have had something to do with my Achilles taking all of my attention, but still, I like to think that I am well on the way toward recovery from the Boston Quad Buster Marathon.