For the past month or two, I have been making a point to wake up early and hit our local track for a workout. I’ve been doing this once a week and it’s not just taken me back in time, but it’s quickly turning into my favorite day of the week.
Since moving to the Bay Area moe than a decade ago, I mostly “identify” as a trail runner. Trail races, for the most part, really don’t require much footspeed, unless you’re my buddy Jorge, who is winning most of those trail races. But for this 50-something, middle of the packer, it hasn’t really been a necesssity.
But now that I have committed to running a marathon with the goal of hopefully qualifying for Boston, it’s definitely back in my training repetoire.
Maybe it’s because it’s still relatively new, maybe it’s that it takes me back to my high school track days, but man, I am digging these sessions. I generally find a workout online or call an audible once I get to the track and then — it’s on. They are suffer-fests for sure, but of the good kind. I also enjoy seeing and exchanging the occasional fist bump or head nod with some of the others folks out there who are also lost in their own workouts. I’m starting to recognize some regular faces too, which is cool.
There is something to be said about pushing oneself out of a comfort zone and these sessions definitely leave me feeling pretty worked. Over time, you can certainly see the benefits too, which is also nice (one of which is an overzealous metabolism. I eat everything in sight during track days).
Anyway, a long-winded way of saying that it’s a hell of a way to start a day in every respect. Might not necessarily be something you need to do weekly, but add it to the mix on occasion, for starters and see where it takes you from there.
Todays workout:
- 1.5 mile easy warm up
- 1 mile at medium tempo (45 seconds faster than race pace)
- 2 x 800 at 5k pace
- 3 x 400 at faster than 5k pace
- 4 x 200 at 95 percent
- .5 mile cool down
