Until tonight, I was feeling kind of down about my last few track practices. I have been going on Wednesday nights because of my work schedule, but now, I should be able to stick more to a Tuesday night schedule, except when I have a Friends of the Library board meeting. I think on Tuesdays it’s easier to find people to run with – there seem to be more of a certain pace group than on Wednesdays when it tends to turn into a lot of pairs.
Karen and I were both glad we switched to Tuesday. One of the coaches even made a point of coming up to the two of us and introducing himself as he had never seen us before and wanted to know about our goals. I thought that was really cool of him to do. And, the people seemed really friendly. I was able to see my friend Bob again, who I’ve not seen since indoor track. He’s a really good guy who joked tonight about bringing up the rear and not being a “runner” but I have news for him. He’s more a runner than he will ever know. How many runners are out there who never do speed work or try to improve? You show up every week, you put in the time, and in my book, you’re a runner!
Tonight’s workout was a bunch of 500s, 8 to be exact. We walked 300s in between, which was more than enough for me to recover. I know, a 500 is a sorta weird distance, right? I personally like it because we ended each one on a straightaway and Diane said I used to always take off as I saw and reached the straightaway. It’s like my body just knows it’s almost at the end.
There was one girl there tonight that was clearly a very talented runner, most likely a pretty successful college cross-country runner. She took off on the first one, way ahead of the rest of us. Luckily for her, there was another guy there who could keep up with her, so for the rest of the night, they had the two of them run together. The rest of us ran in one large group, which wasn’t too bad once we all figured out where we should start in the beginning so we were able to get into our pace groove quickly from the beginning. There was a lady there named Lana, who tended to lead and I was quite content to just try to keep pace with her.
I had a feeling I could really run all out on my last repeat, and it felt really good. I was running behind Lana, and at around the 250-300 yard mark, I think she could hear me right on her heels, and she moved outward in the inside lane. That’s really unusual for someone to do, I think, and really nice of her, honestly. I was all prepared to go on the outside, but she moved aside, and I just kind of kept on going. I actually felt myself speeding up, and it’s kind of hard to put into words how it felt. I ended up doing the first 400 in 1:41, and finished up in 2:00. That actually meant my last 100 was faster than the rest!!!
Anyway, this picture below kind of describes how it felt to run tonight on that last 500 – I felt like I could have kept on going – my legs were getting lighter toward the end, rather than heavier. And I realized, there was not a soul around me at the end, a weird, but beautiful feeling.
May 27, 2009 at 6:17 am
that guy is definitely a runner! tell him he has my vote too 🙂
way to finish strong – in that last repeat and the end of each 500. i’m all about picking it up when i can ‘see the finish’ of a repeat/a mile marker on a run. i don’t think i would have thought to move over like lana did – not because i’m rude, just because my brain would be on lockdown from running the hard 500s. very thoughtful of her, now if only the people out walking 5-abreast could get the memo… 😉
May 27, 2009 at 10:12 am
Great post! I had to laugh out loud because I was thinking to myself, 500m? Why such an odd distance? And then you answered my question. Great job on the repeats! I’m going to think of you tomorrow morning when I’m struggling through my sprint class and try to get the “bird” feeling. 🙂
May 27, 2009 at 11:22 am
Nice job! You are definitely getting speedy.
I definitely need to find a good group track workout. It sounds like the best way to push yourself. Doing it alone is pretty lonely. It seems like it helps you push yourself that much harder.
WTG. I love how you really pushed yourself at the end.
May 27, 2009 at 12:37 pm
1:41!That’s movin’!
If you are doing that then 9:52 for a 10K will be a snap!
May 27, 2009 at 12:37 pm
1:41!That’s movin’!
If you are doing that then 9:52 for a 10K will be a snap!
May 27, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Sarah had the same reaction I did about the 500 distance… Huh? Glad you addressed it! I really need to find a track, your workouts sound so cool.
I started calling myself a runner last year, after I’d been running for a year. All I did was run for set times or distances, no tempo/speedwork/intervals/etc. in my training vocabularly. But I was still a runner. It took a lot for me to call myself that though, so I can understand where Bob was coming from.
It’s nice that the coach on the new night actually came to meet you and find out your goals. That’s what a coach should be like… at least to me!
May 27, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Lindsay, I agree about the 5-people walking abreast – especially when you are running a race!
Glenn, I was really happy with that last one – but not sure if I could do it to keep going for a 10K but thanks for the vote of confidence!
Lisa and Jill, yes, I definitely suggest getting together with someone, and on a track, for speed work. The track makes you stay honest. And I think I enjoyed myself more last night because it was in a group rather than just two of us. And Jill, I’ve always considered you to be a runner. Hands down.
Sarah, I did think the notion of a 500 at first was a bit strange, but then it made sense because it was recovery but active recovery. This coaching group tends to like to have us do more active recoveries than just standing and resting, for some reason.
May 28, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I’m finally catching up on your blog and rolling all my comments into this one. I completely endorse your definition of a runner. And I’m glad the Tuesday night practices are more welcoming for you. That’s important. I miss spring in Boston.
May 29, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Anne, you’d love to meet my friend Bob. Such a nice guy. This guy is retired (I think) and yet he gets himself out there every day to run, walk. When he saw me the other day he gave me such a big hug and a huge smile when he saw me. He volunteered for the Boston Marathon and now, I think he wants to do it!
I’ll have to take pics of Boston and post them for you so you can feel like you’re back here.