Workout of the Day

1 x 1200m, 1 x 800m, 3 x 400m, 3 x 200m 

Splits: 

1200m: 4:06.7
800m: 2:37.9
400m: 72.7 / 73.5 / 73.5
200m: 32.5 / 32.5 / 30.8

Recovery: 2' - 2.5' recovery after each rep

Cheryn Trapp — Feburary 24th, 2015

Context & Details 

I will always remember my time coaching Cheryn with a smile. She was a sunny, kind, sincere, and feisty athlete who I recruited to  Portland State during my first year there. 

She was a cross-country, 5K/10K specialist who was always a dependable top 5 runner in XC and conference championship level competitor on the track. Her best race was an inspired run resulting in her all-time 5,000m PR of 17:30 at the Husky Classic in 2015. 

This workout came nine days after that big breakthrough performance. In my notes, I called it an "indoor conference prep." So that means it is what I playfully call a "look good, feel good" workout. 

The conference meet was days away and this was designed to be a session aimed to shift through the gears without strain starting at goal 5K pace for the 1200m, then 3K pace for the 800m, 1500m pace for the 400m reps, and finally "fast & peppy" on the 200m reps. 

Cheryn was in lifetime fitness at the time, so she had no trouble with the session. It was supposed to be an un-workout workout. Simply an exercise to keep the engine warm and clicking through the rhythms of racing before meeting headlong the challenging task of championship competition ahead of her. 

The Big Sky conference meet that indoor season was at Flagstaff, Arizona at 7,000ft, so it was a rough meet for the sea level based distance corps from Portland State. However, the lack of oxygen did not deter Cheryn and her peers. They competed gamely. Giving it everything they could muster and more. As a coach, the result might not always reflect the effort, and this meet was one of those instances. But Cheryn and her teammates stepped up to the challenge and poured themselves into the endeavor despite the obvious environmental barrier to success. 

And frankly, that integrity of effort, which Cheryn always brought, is what endured me to her, and that generation of distance runners at Portland State, forever.

Any questions? I'm happy to answer. You can send me a Direct Message on Twitter or email me at jmarcus.hpw@gmail.com
Thx //  jm