Outta gasser

It's Friday afternoon and I am waffling. Got most of my work done for the day, and I was considering and afternoon training session. But, it's still kind of hot oustside and not sure I want to go out an run in this heat.

In the end, my goal-oriented side wins out and I lace up my Adidas University TR turf shoes for a little fast-twitch work. I make the short drive down Harrison to McDonald park (looks like the Sabino cross-country team is here, doing a little speed-work as well).

I gingerly jog across the soccer field, looking for a good place to "do my thing". I notice that my legs are not necessarily sore, but a little tired from lifting this morning.

There is about a 40-yard space between the end-line of the soccer field, and the fence of the baseball field. The grass is a little long, but this should be a good place to run. It's gasser time. And, FWIW, I don't think I have done gassers since I was in high school.

For those who never got to experience the joy of the gasser. It's simply a series of runs within a well-defined space (say, 40 yards). So, you start at one side (we'll call it point A), run to the other (we'll call this point B), touch the ground with your hand, run back to your original starting point (A), again touch the ground with your hand, back to point B, once again touching the ground with your hand and finally back to point A and the finish. That is 1 rep!

So essentially, it's 4 times back and forth to complete one gasser. FUN huh?

Today's workout called for 6 gassers. So, I ran 6 x 40 yrd gassers. I'm sure that my heart rate has been this high and I'm sure that I have been this out of breath before, but I don't recall when. OMG... I'm dieing here. Eventually, I get my heart rate and breathing under control.

I do some general feel and form work to finish off the day, 5 x 50-yard half speed run, walk back. Sounds easy, but still elevating my heart rate and heavy breathing.

It's been a long time since I have done anything like this. My form is a little awkward and I just don't feel comfortable sprinting. It will probably take a little while and some more workouts for this to come back to me. I'll keep at it though, 'cause that is just what I do.