Race cancelled

I got an email today from the Dash & Dine race directors:

Due to the inclement weather currently occurring in Boulder (and predicted to continue throughout the day), we are considering canceling the Dash & Dine 5K scheduled for this evening...If you want to move your registration from today's race to one of the three final runs (5-1, 5-8 or 5-15) before we make a final determination, please email us before 3:00 pm.

That was enough for me. I sent them an email asking to switch my registration to next week's race. Am I getting soft? I don't think so. I went out and ran another track workout at lunch today. It was 39 degrees, windy, and raining steadily. Not the best conditions, but it's amazingly not that bad when you can come in from your run, take a shower, and have a nice lunch and a hot espresso.

After consulting DRF before my workout, I decided to drop down to 4x1000 meters instead of 5x1000. That's because Daniels recommends no more than 8% of weekly mileage for this interval session. 8% of 30 miles is 2.4 miles, which is about 4 kilometers, so I'm pretty close. I also adjusted my I-pace a bit. If I use a VDOT of 50 (which is hopefully where I am right now, perhaps optimistically), my I-pace should be 3:55 per 1000 meters.

So, my goal for the workout was 4x1000 on 3:55 with 1:30 rest. Did I make it? Nope. I ran 3:58.8 for the first one. That's ok, I thought. I'm trying to get used to this pace. Intervals 2 and 3 came in at 3:55.4 and 3:55.7. Close, but still struggling to make it. This was getting quite hard. By my third interval I was really hurting. So much so that I decided to take an extra 30 seconds rest. That helped a little, and I finished the final 1000 in 3:58.5. Without the extra rest I'm sure I would have been over 4:00 for that one.

This made me re-read the chapter on interval training in DRF. Oops, he recommends 3-4 minute recoveries, and I'm only taking 1:30. Maybe I should increase my recovery time in my next workout. I'm certain that would help a lot.

So much to learn!