800s at AHS

Today we met at RunTex to head to AHS for some 800s. I haven't done 800s since February. I think the group did them when I was traveling. G wanted us to do 6-8 with 2 minutes rest in between. We did our drills and then started out. Anne and I were supposed to lead a group, but G really slowed down the group in front of us, so we did some with our usual pack (Carrie, Skud, Thon, Mike), and then jumped up into a group that had Alex and some guys I don't know. They usually blow our doors off, but G had them slow down a bit. The first few were rough as usual, but I had good times. I seemed to get stronger as we progressed although I was feeling it by the 6th one. I was trying to focus on my form with butt kick and fast turnover and it really helped me go faster. I really concentrated during my last one and I was able to have a personal breakthrough by running my first sub 3 minute 800 in my life. I ran a 2:58 and finished second in our group behind only Alex who dusted us all. Anne had a great morning too and was right on my heels for the last repeat. It was great to run strong after I struggled on Monday.

Splits - 3:18.6, 3:15.2, 3:13.9, 3:15.5, 3:13.0, 3:13.6, 3:11.2, 2:58.0
Average - 3:12.4 - new set average PR by about 3 seconds

We finished with a couple of 200s and then I headed back with Jay, Alex, Rachel, and a new lady in the group. I headed to the gym where I did my daily pull ups, dips, abs, and about half the stretch routine. We have 7 miles tomorrow and then 20 on Saturday. I should end up with over 50 miles this week.

Stats - 8.65 miles
AHR - 133
MHR - 178