Monday, May 17, 2004
Tom, you didn't say what the rest interval was, so I jagged a lap after each 3/4. With a mile warm-up, that made for a nice four mile run. It's interesting to get on the track-- I rode my bike up to Buff State, where it was a little cool, but where the towers of Ascension and the Richardson Towers are both visible. Nice track, although Buff State could work on keeping it up a little. Really, was there ever an institution so dogged in its determination to take all assets and settle for being so mediocre?
My traditional speed workout has been 880's at race pace with a two lap recovery; I like the 3/4's better. My target was 6:00 3/4's. Like Tom, I discovered that there's more speed there than we know about. 5:24; 5:30; and 5:38 is what I found on the track; I should have run one more, just to slot that 6:00 (8:00 minute mile pace)tempo in, but I didn't do it. Twenty years ago those would have been decent miles for me; I must have lost a lap somewhere along the way.
When I was a schoolboy, I loved track work, but I think now that it may have been because it was sociable for me then. We ran a lot of miles-- six was our base distance, and we did a couple of eights a week. I was never alone, but I wasn't necessarily with the people who were my friends; on speed days, I could catch up with them on the rest laps. I always loved Cross-Country best, because the extra distance and the hills favored me, a little. On the track, I was, ostensibly, a miler, even though that distance as romantic as it is, was completely wrong for the runner I was then, and always will be.
Some days you run because you know that it will make tomorrow's run better, and that's how this felt. At the end of the day today, I felt like I'd learned something about how fast I can go, and how much faster I actually run when someone makes me.
Other things to like about track work: easy to take water; easy to stretch, easy to test what works and what doesn't. The surface of the Buff State track is state of the art, so it is easy on the legs, but they should get someone out there with a broom-- I'm pretty sure that wasn't a dead animal, but I shouldn't have to kick whatever it was out of lane one at the top turn, and keep seeing it thereafter.
My traditional speed workout has been 880's at race pace with a two lap recovery; I like the 3/4's better. My target was 6:00 3/4's. Like Tom, I discovered that there's more speed there than we know about. 5:24; 5:30; and 5:38 is what I found on the track; I should have run one more, just to slot that 6:00 (8:00 minute mile pace)tempo in, but I didn't do it. Twenty years ago those would have been decent miles for me; I must have lost a lap somewhere along the way.
When I was a schoolboy, I loved track work, but I think now that it may have been because it was sociable for me then. We ran a lot of miles-- six was our base distance, and we did a couple of eights a week. I was never alone, but I wasn't necessarily with the people who were my friends; on speed days, I could catch up with them on the rest laps. I always loved Cross-Country best, because the extra distance and the hills favored me, a little. On the track, I was, ostensibly, a miler, even though that distance as romantic as it is, was completely wrong for the runner I was then, and always will be.
Some days you run because you know that it will make tomorrow's run better, and that's how this felt. At the end of the day today, I felt like I'd learned something about how fast I can go, and how much faster I actually run when someone makes me.
Other things to like about track work: easy to take water; easy to stretch, easy to test what works and what doesn't. The surface of the Buff State track is state of the art, so it is easy on the legs, but they should get someone out there with a broom-- I'm pretty sure that wasn't a dead animal, but I shouldn't have to kick whatever it was out of lane one at the top turn, and keep seeing it thereafter.
