A temporary surge in work and familial commitments have made my running schedule rather erratic lately, and while I should be training for my 10k in April, I'm just not feeling motivated. My miles have been on the low side, and the frequency of my running has dropped from what was already on the sparse side. Primarily out of guilt I brought my running gear to work yesterday and committed to running during my lunch hour.
While every run as practically turned into a tempo run lately, I have missed several planned track workouts. Yesterday was a dry day, but since it had been raining all week, I knew the Nike trail would be squishy, leaving me a good reason to hit the track. My goal was to run 5x800s at 3:50 each with 400m recovery intervals. When I got to the track there were 4 or 5 others also doing speed intervals. This made me slightly nervous since they were faster runners, and generally this causes me to run way faster than I should.
Sure enough, I was right to be nervous. My legs felt like jello and the rest of my body lacked the energy to help in the matter, but I still ran as fast I could. By the start of the second lap I thought I was going to collapse, so I slowed down significantly. I clocked in at 3:46.28. I ran-walked the recovery lap, but when I started running the second interval, my legs still lacked any fire. I ran a conservative pace, but one that was still beyond my comfort zone, and surprisingly, I finished in 3:49.92. Practically dead on. Maybe I'm not as lethargic as I feel, I thought. I pulled out two more, running them in 3:48.78 and 3:48.19 respectively, but didn't have enough steam in me to run the last one.
As I type this I kick myself for not completing the workout. I'm sure I could have run that last set, and as driven as I am, I would've engaged every muscle in my body to run it in the same time as the others, if not faster. But you pick your battles, and sometimes cutting your workout short one interval just isn't worth agonizing over. Besides, I still got out there and ran. That counts for something, right?
Miles: 4.7 (warmup, 4x800m w/400m RI,cool down)
Time: 45:17 (3:46, 3:49, 3:48, 3:48)
Pace: 9:38 (7:32, 7:38, 7:36, 7:36)
A thirty-something running mama in Portland, OR, who finds sanity in lacing up her Nikes, enjoys the challenge that running and racing brings, but doesn't run very fast. I try to improve my speed with each race, and I share my efforts here.