Last night I headed back to the high school track for my first track workout in two weeks. Why the break? Well two weeks ago I was feeling exhausted and had the Hokie Half coming up, so I opted to back off a bit in an effort to feed good on race day (and it worked). Then last week I was sore from the Hokie Half, so again I skipped the track. But this week I was ready to get back to it and up my Yasso 800s to seven repeats.
The total workout was 7 miles and it broke down like this: 1 mile warm-up, 7 x 800m with 400m recovery jog, 1200m cool down. The last time I did a track workout things went pretty well and Coach Holly suggested I shoot for 4:25’s instead of 4:30’s. She hasn’t steered me wrong, yet, so I decided to give it a shot. Here’s how it went:
1- 4:23 5- 4:20
2- 4:25 6- 4:18
3- 4:22 7- 4:09
4- 4:22
Looks like the coach was right. I felt pretty good on these. During the first 3-4 I would feel fatigued during the last 200m, but felt strong during the first 600m. Then during the last 3 I would start to feel tired about halfway though. This workout was what I needed after the way things went on Saturday.
Finishing a track workout and hitting my goal on each interval notches my confidence back up a bit. Plus there was a really pretty sunset during my workout. This is the part where I show you some breathtaking picture of it…. except I didn’t bring my phone or camera down to the track last night. But it looked similar to this, without as much yellow and with less clouds:
Now because I’m sure you’re dying to know, here’s a skunk update: Hank is stink-free, except for right on his nose and chin. Those were hard spots for me to try and clean, but you really only smell it if you put your nose right next to his face (or when he breathes on you). Our house is miraculously almost stink-free. The only spots the skunk smell lingers a bit are in the hallway and in the stairwell into the basement. Those two spots don’t get much air flow, I guess, so it’ll take a little bit longer to air out. Luckily we have had beautiful fall weather yesterday and today, so having all of the windows and fans on in the house (and the heat pump off) has been no problem. The high yesterday was 71 and the low overnight was 49. So it never got hot in the house, but it was a bit chilly last night. Nothing fleece PJ pants and a hoodie can’t fix, though.
Do you get beautiful sunsets/sunrises where you live? Where’s the most beautiful sunset you have seen?
The most beautiful sunset I’ve seen was the sunset on the ocean when my family went to California. But mountain sunsets are my favorite.
Are you experiencing some crisp fall weather?
Turkey Runner 
Way to go on your 800s!I see beautiful sunsets here just over the mountains all the time (not to brag…). I love sunset, even if it is getting earlier. Bring on the fall weather!
So glad the fall weather is here! We will wait until winter, or at least October, to complain about it getting dark earlier 🙂
Windows ope an the house is airing out nicely. As much as I like to control the temperature, I love airing out the house, until the leaf mold starts. The is it windows shut.On the skunk, if you can smell it on Hanks nose, think what his highly sensitive olfactories are going through.LUD.
I love having the house smell like fresh air, too. I felt so bad for poor Hank, but even though we can still kind of smell it on his breath, he doesn’t seem bothered by it anymore.
Way to rock those 800s! Love that you descended with each one and finished super strong! And glad to hear that the skunk smell is slowly receding!
That drive to descend on each one definitely comes from my swimming days 🙂
WHOO! Way to step up to the challenge. Nice work. :)Glad to hear the stink is receding. I have no dog/skunk experience, ergo have nothing useful to suggest. I’ll stick to suggestions on the 800s, and let other, wiser, folks help you sort out the smell. In the meantime, enjoy some snuggling in fleece. Still hot as blazes out here… 🙂
Thanks! And thank you for challenging me 🙂
That sunset is amazing!! One thing I hate about living in town is I don’t get to see them. 😦 Great job on the 800’s!
We get some pretty good ones!
Mountain sunsets are my favorite, too =)
They are definitely the best.
Way to rock your Yasso 800’s! I love the feeling of a good track workout (after it’s done)!The fall air is fabulous here now and so cool and comfortable! I think the most beautiful sunsets we saw were when we were in southern Utah hiking. We saw some amazing ones!I’m so glad that Hank is pretty much stink free!
Same here! They feel great after they’re done :)I bet those sunsets in Utah were amazing! I think I remember seeing some Utah pictures on your blog around the time of your anniversary.