400s

Last night I went to the UT track again for circuits, but I got started late and didn't feel up to it, so during the warmup I resolved to run a 400m repeat or two. I haven't done any speedwork since surgery, except a random stretch here and there. I'm always curious to see where I am with respect to where I think I am. Got to the track and did some drills, then psyched myself up and took off. I tried to stay as smooth as possible, not push too hard, run by feel, finished in 1:31. Can't say I was thrilled with the time, but I'll take it-- felt like I was working pretty hard, concentrating intensely on what my legs were doing. I did a couple circuit like exercises and decided I'd give it another try. Took off again, this time I felt like I was more in control-- but I looked over at my shadow and thought I looked a little wonky, like I was working hard, and I guess I was. I thought for sure I was going to improve my time, but clocked another 1:31. Again, I'll take it. Hip felt a little tired after this, but not bad. I felt like my brain and my right hip were the only things on the track the whole time-- negotiating with each other. It's annoying-- hope this goes away. When I got home I could tell I had successfully made my hip pretty sore. But this morning, most of the soreness is gone. I figure I'll do another couple 400's next week and see how it leaves my hip feeling. If it's less sore, I'll chalk it up to muscle weakness, lack of speedwork for so dang long. Overall, I'm happy though. For comparison, I ran at 5:55 pace back in Feb for 15 seconds and was sore for 3 days.