A Windy Track Workout!

For my last workout of 2011, my plan called for some track intervals of 200s and 1000s, all at my heart rate zone 5 .  All in all, short and intense, just the way I like it!

Currently in Kansas, we are experiencing quite the December heat wave!  Usually by now, we have had at least one significant snow, and temps are usually hovering in the low to mid 30s.  We have yet to get any snow really (sooooo thankful), and today's forecast called for temps near 60 degrees!!! Unbelievable!

Before I left home, I checked the weather to make sure there wasn't any chance of rain.  Here's what weather.com had to say:

Looks pretty good, right? 63 degrees on New Year's Eve?!  Notice anything odd? How about challenging?!  Yeah.... the wind....

When I got to the track, which is in a large open parking lot, I knew it was going to be a tough day!  The wind was a howlin'!!!  I nearly lost my car door trying to get out!!! Even the recycling trash cans couldn't keep their lids closed!

I quickly began my warmup, starting with the wind behind me.  As soon as I rounded one of the bends, I hit the wind wall.  It wasn't quite head-on, but more from a diagonal. It was definitely slowing me down, but also blowing me to the side.  I could barely stay in my lane.  As I continued on with my workout, I could identify the exact spot the wind would hit me.  As soon as I was there, my pace would drop my nearly a full minute/mile!  That's insane!!! Luckily, my pace picked up quite nicely with the wind at my back!

After looking at my Garmin upload, it was pretty easy to see when I was running into the wind vs with the wind at my back during my 1000 yard intervals:

And a closer, more obvious look....

Usually, these are fairly sustained runs at an even pace, thanks to my Garmin.  With the wind, it looks like I was doing intervals INSIDE an interval!!! Maybe a new training technique!? My brain hurts...

After the 30 minutes was up, I headed to my car to get out of the wind!  I couldn't tell if my cheeks were windburned, sunburned (probably not from 30 minutes), or just toasted from the intervals!

Hiding from the wind, or hiding my "wind hair" from the public!

The wind made for an interesting workout, and a good end to 2011!

Again, hope everyone had a safe New Year's Eve, and now a New Year's Day full of regret and awkwardness!  YEAH!!!!

Thanks for reading!