Ladder Goes Up...

Last week at track we talked about the possibility of trying out a ladder workout. A ladder workout is basically when you start with a short distance, build up to the longer distance, and then go back down to the shorter distance. In our case it went 400m-800m-1200m-1600m-1200m-800m-400m.

The idea is to get your times on each 400, 800, and 1200 to match. This helps you with pacing and pushing yourself when you're tired.

I've never done ladders on the track, only attempted them on the treadmill so imagine my excitement when I arrived at track expecting to debate the merits of 800 or 1600 repeats and instead learning we'd be doing a ladder workout!

But first we did 600 yards of strides. Then it was off to the first rung of the ladder.

"Don't kill yourself!" Our coach yelled as we whooshed passed him.

Here are my times:

400 - 1:54
800 - 4:02
1200 - 6:09
1600 - 8:28
1200 - 6:25
800 - 4:10
400 - 1:48

We took a 60 second break between each "rung". As you can see, my 800 and my 1200 times up the ladder and down the ladder didn't match exactly, but at least the 800 one was close. And, of course, I'm super proud of the fact that my last 400 was faster than my first 400. I bet I could have pushed a little harder in the 1200 and 800 and gotten them closer to my first ones. Regardless, I think this was an awesome workout and I did great. Especially considering it was HOT and sunny. The tank top came off again after the first few laps.

I was a little worried that I was pushing it too hard during the first parts of the laps. I'd find that my first lap was always around 2 minutes but that I would slow down each consecutive lap. I think this means I need to work on my pacing a little more. Any suggestions on how to do that?

Also, I've discovered a new track pet peeve:



People who talk on their cellphone while walking on the track! Also, soccer players.

I felt completely invisible last night. I had to dodge several soccer players who wandered out onto the track (the track surrounds a football field that people play soccer on in the summer) and several walkers who were just totally oblivious to the faster runner coming up behind them. I think we need to have a lesson on track etiquette. Note to anyone reading this: if you're not running, please stay out of the inside lane. I'm happy you're out there. I just can't express that because I'm panting too hard.

In non-track news, I signed up for the Waterfall Glen Xtreme 10 Miler on Saturday. My marathon training plan has me running 12 miles that day but I thought a race would be more fun. I didn't think I was going to be able to do this race because of a family member's birthday party, but it turns out I'm able to. Here's hoping I don't regret it. Maybe I can sleep in the car on my way to the party...

Also, I recently won Anne's $60 CSN Store gift certificate giveaway. Now I have $60 dollars to spend! What to buy, what to buy. What would you get with $60?