Why are 800 meter repeats so much harder than 400 meter repeats?

I did speed work yesterday and I am pretty wiped out.  I'm not too impressed with the times I ran yesterday, but it was a good consistent workout.

Workouts since my last post

Thursday 3/20-  I ran 4 shake out miles.  No watch No Garmin

Friday  3/21  This was a workout mash up- I did my long run and I ran the second half at Tempo pace.  I did the same route that I did a few weeks ago with 5 miles up the hill  and then 5 miles back down the hill. I ran 10.22 miles (7:49 pace)

Mile 1-8:19

Mile 2-8:47

Mile 3-8:05

Mile 4-8:10

Mile 5-8:22

Mile 6-7:32

Mile 7-7:23

Mile 8-7:17

Mile 9-7:19

Mile 10-7:04

.22- 1:38 (7:19 pace)

Saturday 3/22- Rest

Sunday 3/23- 8 miles 1 mile warm up- 5 miles at HM pace and then 2 miles "cool down".  8 miles (7:37 average pace).

Mile 1-8:04

Mile 2-7:42

Mile 3-7:28

Mile 4-7:23

Mile 5-7:24

Mile 6-7:29

Mile 7-7:54 

Mile 8-7:37

During mile 7 I decided that I was going to run a mile and a half for a cool down.  I think I just needed to regroup because I felt good again during the last mile and I sped up again.  I think I had a few good songs come on my radio towards the end and it gave me some extra pep in my step.

Monday 3/24  Strength training and  I ran 4 miles.  No radio or Garmin.

Tuesday3/25- Speed work, I had such a good time meeting up with my friend Nancy for track work earlier this month.  Since then our schedules have been conflicting and we haven't had a chance to meet up for track work.   I really like having someone to do speed work with.  It helps me work harder and I'm less likely to ease up on my pace when it gets uncomfortable.  My workout was 6 x 800 meters at 10k pace.   I wasn't really sure how fast I should run these.  Earlier this month I hit 3:06-: 3:11 for 800 meters.  I ran these on an actual track.    On Tuesday I drove back over to Sunset Park.  I really like it there.  The jogging tracks are packed dirt and pretty gentle on the joints.  This did not make for fast repeats. I jogged a mile for a warm up and then I did the workout.   Afterwards I did a very short cool down run.  Here's the data.

3:23, 3:22, 3:22, 3:22, 3:21, 3:23

I was a little disappointed after I finished my first repeat.   Then I realized that I was running 6:46 pace per mile, which is pretty close to my PR pace for a 10k (it' actually a little faster).  As the workout continued I became pretty shocked at how even my splits were.  I felt like I was crashing and burning at the end.

Between each repeat I gave myself 90 seconds to recover.  I used my Garmin to track the 800 meter repeats.  As soon as I finished a repeat I would start my stopwatch to time the 90 second rest.  That rest felt like it kept getting shorter and shorter with each repeat.  

Here's a picture of my arm party

There is just something about 800 meters that makes it such a hard interval to run.  A 400 meter repeat hurts but, it goes by quick.   A mile repeat is pretty long but, it doesn't feel like you are redlining it the whole way.
An 800 meter repeat is the best of both worlds.  It's a long repeat that hurts really bad.

Wednesday 3/26-  Rest day. I was wiped out from track work but, it's also really windy today.  I expected my legs to be trashed but, they are not as sore as I thought they would be.  I do notice that my abdomen is pretty sore.  I feel  a slight twinge where my c-section scar is.  It's not super painful but, I'm going to take it easy with lifting heavy things (my kids).

I have about two more weeks of solid training followed by a one week taper. Hal Higdon doesn't give a long taper for a half marathon.   I'm getting so excited for next month's race.