Speedy Wednesday

I like running long. I have no problem running hills. I can do trails, road or just about any surface. I'll run a 5K, 10K, half-marathon or marathon. I can do all of that without much pressure. So why does speedwork still intimidate me?
I just got back from my first speed workout in a long time. My half-marathon training schedule officially starts this week, thus today was 4x400m with a warm-up and cooldown. Those regular visitors to my blog may remember it was during my speed sessions before Royal Victoria that ended up aggravating my hamstring. To say I'm a little tentative this time around, well, that would be an understatement.
My half-marathon training program is supposed to be three days of intense training a week, with two alternate days. It was supposed to begin yesterday but I badly needed a rest day after four straight days of running. By the time I was able to get out of the house tonight, it was too dark and too late to get to a trail or track, so I did it on a fairly flat part of my subdivision. I also didn't realize it started raining. Argh.
I finished the workout, but it was not pretty. I really struggled. The training program called for a two-minute rest between intervals, but I thought that was way too easy, so cut it to one minute. Perhaps that was a mistake. A few times I felt like my stomach was doing flip-flops. And my form was disastrous near the end.
Anyway, my 400m splits were where I needed them for the first speed workout: 80 seconds, 77 seconds, 82 seconds and 80 seconds. I'm sure this will get easier in the next 10 weeks.