In light of the STS-133 launch slip, the powers-that-be decided to schedule another rendezvous sim today to give the team a “refresher.” It’s been quite a while since our last sim and it’s always good to shake the rust off. It all went pretty well except for I made one bad call. It didn’t affect much in the grand scheme of things, but it was still wrong. And that meant I had to go back to the Flight Director in front of the whole flight control team and say “soooo, hey, you know that call I made a little while ago? Yeah, so, it turns out I was wrong. Um, oops?” (Don’t worry, I said it in a much more professional-sounding way.)
I hate it when I have to do that.
One of the hardest things about working in Mission Control is that when you say something wrong, you have to fess up. Nobody likes to admit that they’re wrong, especially Type-A flight controllers like me. But I fessed up. And the sim went on, and the crew docked to the ISS, and I learned something new, and all was well.
Anyway.
Last night I totally R.O.C.K.E.D. my speedwork at the track. The schedule called for 2 miles at 10K pace, 2 x 1 mile at 5K pace, and 2 x 800 meters slightly faster than 5K pace with 5 minutes recovery after the 2 miles and 3 minutes after the miles and 800s. (For my half marathon goal, 10K pace is 9:28/mile, 5K pace is 9:07/mile and “slightly faster than 5K pace” means 800s in something like 4:20-4:25.) Yet again, I was terrified when I showed up because the workout completely intimidated me. But here’s what I did:
2 miles in 18:59 (the first mile was 9:36, so the second mile was faster)
2 x 1 mile in 8:58 and 8:53
2 x 800m in 4:13 and 4:14
Holy crap! I actually did it! I even feel a tiny bit FAST! I’m quite excited. I’m also pretty sure I haven’t run a mile in less than 9:00 in a long time. I’m already dreading next spring when it starts to get hot and humid again because I know I could NOT have hit those times two months ago — partly because my fitness has improved since then, but mainly due to weather. Cool weather is awesome for my running.
Dawn says
Nice work! That’s so awesome on the super-speediness.