Jacob Two-Two and the 800m intervals

Ever have one of those dreams that feel so real you don't realize you're asleep? 

I don't have those very often.  My dreams tend to involve strange creatures, super powers, and such bizarre plot lines that I never really think they're real.  I just go along for the ride. 

This morning's dream was different. It felt so real that I'm still a little shaken to find out that it wasn't.

Here's how it went.

I woke up at 5am, pulled on my running clothes and headed downstairs.  I felt full of energy (that should have been my first clue).  I checked my sugar: 5.0 (perfect!).  I had a gel and two dates and headed out the door.  Today's run was interval training and I had emailed Benny yesterday to ask what we had to do.  Ten times 800m with a 2k warm up and a 2k cooldown.  So I trotted along for 2k to get to the subdivision where we run our 800m intervals.  I felt good.  The sun was coming up.  I did all ten reps - they were hard but I felt strong through all ten of them. I grabbed my water belt and headed home again. As I was running over the bridge, just a few hundred metres from home, I was nuzzled awake by Doug.  I glanced at the clock.  It said 4:58am.

What?!?  Seriously?

I have to do it all over again.

I crawled out of bed for real this time.  I pulled on my clothes and stumbled downstairs.  I was groggy and tired after three days of getting up at 5am.  I checked my sugar: 10.8 (sigh).  I had a gel and took 0.4units of insulin to give me a little something to fight the high.

I ran an easy 2k, took off my water belt and prepared myself mentally to run 800m.  Fast.  Ten times.

The first time I brought Scully out to do these, I told her that it was four minutes of hell.  Truth be told, it's actually about 4 minutes and forty five seconds of hell.  The first trick is to push yourself at a pace that you can sustain for the entire 800m.  The second trick is to push it at a pace that you can sustain for all ten reps.

I ran the first one in 4:42.  It felt pretty good.  The next four were 4:40, 4:39, 4:38 and 4:35. 

I'm nothing if not consistent. 

Doug, Klari and Barb showed up at 6:30am.  They meet every week as part of their training for the Simcoe Shores Ultra Distance Relay (more on that craziness in an upcoming blog).  I chatted for a few seconds and then continued for rep number 6.  They started after I did but are much faster so they caught me in the last few hundred metres.  Klari pulled up beside me and something possessed me to sprint like a maniac for the last 200m.  Pride?  Stupidity?  Whatever it was, I did that interval in 4:24.

The next two were ok (4:35 and 4:40) but I was tiring quickly.  The final two were 4:53 and 4:55.  I was done. 

I waved goodbye to the others, pulled on my now empty water belt and headed home.  It was slow - I walked the last few hundred metres over the bridge and down my street. 

If you count the ten reps I did before I even woke up this morning, I did 20x800m and ran just over 24k. 

If you insist on only counting those that are officially registered on my Garmin, I did 10x800 and ran just over 12k.

Either way, I've had quite the workout and am now enjoying the endorphin high that comes after a great run. And I'm crossing my fingers that tonight's dreams involve flying whales and purple pandas.