On and Off Track

If my warm-up last night had been any indication of how track was going to go I probably should have just stayed home. My knees felt horrible, my calves were tight, my right hip was achy, and the bottom of my right foot felt like there was some kind of rubber band in it that didn't want to stretch quite right.

I told myself I would take it easy but then, of course, our coach said that now that we're getting closer to race day we should ramp up the speed. Blugh.

And, of course, there was still a soccer game going on at the track's infield so we had to run our four mile repeats at the park before being allowed on the track for our final 4x400s.

Strangely, even after my horrible warm-up, I felt strong for my first mile and all my aches went away.

Warm-up - .82 miles @ 10:40 pace

Lap 1 - 1 mile in 7:39
Lap 2 - .98 miles in 7:42
Lap 3 - .97 miles in 7:40
Lap 4 - .97 miles in 7:55

Walk to track

1st 400 - 1:43
2nd 400 - 1:44
3rd 400 - 1:45
4th 400 - 1:44

I'm a little skeptical of that first mile time. It's what the Garmin says but, really? Really? If that's true then that's the fastest full mile I've ever run in my life. Coming off a half marathon PR and an 8+ mile run that felt like crap.

How very strange.

The last mile felt rough. I could tell I'd slowed down but at least I came in under 8 and that was good enough for the coach.

Once we arrived on the track for the second half of our workout my knees once again began to protest. But as soon as I was running they calmed down. It was weird to run on the track. We haven't run there for the past two workouts so I'd completely forgotten how to pace myself. Obviously, though, I seemed to do okay since my times were so consistent. I really concentrated on pumping my arms. Made me realize I need to do some more upper body strength training! My arms were getting tired by the end.

It was almost dark by the time we were finishing up and for some reason the track isn't turning on their lights. The rumor is they were damaged during July's flooding and haven't been fixed yet. I hope they get them fixed soon! Also, I hope the mosquitoes die off ASAP. I think I got 6 bites as soon as I stopped moving.

And speaking of stopping moving, I'm taking today and Friday off. My legs are sore, the bottom of my right foot still feels weird, and I'm so exhausted I can barely think straight. I just hope that Saturday morning I get a second wind so that I do my very first 20 mile run feeling strong. Wish me luck!

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Note: I'm only posting this for the map which I think it hilarious since I ran in three separate places last night.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 628 ft Location: -- Elev. Gain: +3 ft Date: 09/15/10 Up/Downhill: [+55/-52] Time: 06:09 PM Difficulty: 2.1 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 5.78 miles Time: 0:46:49 Speed: 7.4 mph Pace: 8' 06 /mi Calories: 683 Map

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