Olympic Trials and First Track Workout of 2012

I was planning on writing a long recap of the trials, but Michelle Hamilton's article on Runner's World did such a nice job.  I'll also include this picture, which was my favorite from Saturday.  I loved it because you can see both the pain and exhaustion of the marathon and the pure joy in them knowing they are going to the Olympics.  All I'll say is this: both the men's and women's races were terrific.  No one really ran uncontested, and it took a lot of effort to make the team.  It was hard to watch both Dathan Ritzenheim and Amy Hastings come in 4th with looks of disappointment.  So close to an Olympic berth, yet it didn't happen for them.  But both still set PRs on a challenging looped course.  I am very excited about the marathon teams - I think they are going to do a fantastic job representing America.  Can't wait to watch their Olympic preparations and race in London!
On Tuesday, I had my first track workout of 2012.  First time putting on my racing flats since December 11th, and I was excited.  Even though it was 40 out and pouring rain, I was undeterred - I could not wait to get back to speed workout.  It always brings a big thrill, and I always get psyched for these workouts.  So, this was the task of the first one (and this was a new one for me):

2.5 mile warm-up; 2 x 2 mile tempo on track. The goal is to be pretty
even for each set. So, aim to run the first 2 mile in 7:05 per mile, jog 800 meter recovery, and
aim for 6:55 per mile for the second 2 mile.  2.5 mile cool-down. Total=9.5 miles
Soaked by the time I got to the track, I changed into my racing flats.  And I hopped up and down a few times on the track -- all alone, and ready to go.  And with the click of my watch, I was off for the first set.  I ran 7:03 for the first mile and negative-splitted to finish for 14:03.  I was pretty pleased - I haven't done any long sets of spadework like that for a while.  And while 7:01 pace is not 5k or 10k pace, it was a good effort.  While it had poured during my warm up, it had calmed down a bit during the first set.  But during my 2 lap recovery, it started pouring again - not the worst thing - I had gotten hot, and this cooled me down a little.  And it stopped by the time I was ready to toe the line!  When I started, I felt great but after I hit my first mile in 6:55 perfectly, I was wondering how much effort it would take to repeat or better that.  But I did feel good, and it wasn't until the last half mile that I felt tired but kept trucking.  And I got through the second 2 miler in 13:43 - a strong negative split!  I was really pleased.  While in a month or so I'll be hoping to run faster than that, this was a great rust-buster workout. Looking forward to doing many more of these this year!