Yesterday, I held my last pre-Broadstreet speed workout. Or at least the last intense one; Since the race is in a mere 2 weeks, I need to start easing up.

It was already dark, and I could barely distinguish the track’s faded lines. My stomach was empty– I should have been eating dinner– but I was strangely focused. I wanted to increase my speed before the race, and I think a part of me knew that this was my last chance. So when I actually started pumping out 1k repeats, I surprised myself with my splits:

Split times (5x1000m, 400m jog rest)
3:19
3:20
3:15
3:12
3:09

Not bad for me.

I should also say that this was my first real workout in the Mizuno Mushas. They felt GREAT. I was worried that they would provide too much support for my neutral feet and make my knees and hips sore. No such problem. My stride felt light and powerful, and free of pain. The Mushas have passed my test.

They did not, however, do anything to curb my hunger.

A week ago I went on a 13-miler around the streets of Bethlehem. I was running at a decent clip, so imagine my surprise when I still felt good at the end. Too good. 13 miles was my longest run of the week– it’s meant to stretch my limits. And finishing that run didn’t leave me feeling adequately challenged. So I decided that I would kick up this week’s long run. Maybe then I would find satisfactory punishment.

Man, did I ever.

I ran 15 miles through an unshoveled, unplowed Bethlehem. I was lifting my knees as high as I could at first to try to hop over the snow. Then I got tired enough that I was just trudging through it, kicking the 6-inch-deep snow in front of my feet. My hips and quads were… well, have you ever tried to use a rubber band that’s been left in the sun? When it’s dried out and covered with cracks? And when you try to stretch it, it kind of crumbles instead of snapping? Yeah, it was like that.

Most of my team spent last Friday afternoon on the track, doing an endurance workout. This by itself would hardly be newsworthy (even post-in-an-obscure-blog-worthy). But two of my teammates did something that I think deserves mention.

The workout, called “Endless 2′s,” is one that I’d never heard of before coming to college. My coach swears by it, though- he says that it’s great for building endurance. This drill centers around doing many, many 200-meter sprints with little rest in between. Most of the team usually does about 20 sprints before they’re done. Coach has me do low 30′s.

These two friends of mine, though, decided that they weren’t going to settle for reasonable (when do we ever, right?). They were out for a new record. Coach had told us before that one of his runners once did 50 sprints on this workout; respectable, but beatable.

51 sprints later, the battered remains of my friends accompanied us to a lovely cafeteria dinner. One almost fell asleep in the middle of his meal. The other was high as a kite on endorphins. They had averaged a 30-31 second pace on all of their 200′s- not much slower than my fastest sprint.

So, Connor and Pete, Here’s to you guys- For not letting reason get in the way of a great workout.