Survival

I did it. I made it through my first ever track workout with minimal tears and no puking. Today, however, I am paying the price (see previous post).

I arrived at the track to find the track is not lit, so most people had headlamps. I decided I could see in the dark and stayed for the workout. (Thankfully there were streetlights on the other side of the fence that lit most of the track enough to see obstacles. Actually, I think I was the obstacle...)

The group included about ten of us - mostly very fit-looking women and two fit-looking men. And me. Crammed into spandex. Sexy. We signed a waiver in case we dropped dead no one could sue the coach (who was doing this on her own time, for free, for fun), and then wrote down our best mile times.

Um.

I glanced at the sheet. The best mile times of other runners included one runner under 7 minutes, the rest in the 7 - 8 minute mile range.

My best mile time is probably around 11 minutes at the moment. On a good day. When rested. And on caffeine.

I put a big question mark to avoid the humiliation of being officially twice as slow as the other runners.

Warm-up involved 4 laps, so a one mile slow jog. The group took off - and I mean took off! Immediately at the back, I made the snap decision to only do 3/4 mile warm-up. Oh, also I have no "slow jog," or any other "pace" for that matter - I am running or I am not running, and I am always huffing and puffing. So "slow jog" for 3/4 mile felt a bit like a workout.

Anyway, after that we jogged the curves slowly and sprinted the straights. I sprinted the first straight and then almost died, so decided to jog the curves and jog the straights a little less slowly than I jogged the curves. As the last runner, I have to say it was disheartening to watch the group keep going after the first lap. That's when I almost surrendered (notice we're only in the first official set of the workout and I was ready to throw in the towel) and wanted to cry. (I didn't, it was sweat. Really.)

So two laps later, bringing up the rear, I come huffing and puffing to the finish. Then - drills!

About 50 yards, there and back, of butt kicks, high knees, high kicks-touching opposite toes, sidewinders, walking lunges, some weird walking on the side of your foot thing...

THEN we begin the main set.

Now most runners were going to do one set of the following:

200, 400, 800, 400, 200 at a specific pace based on their mile time. I spoke briefly with our peppy coach and told her I was only running 10 - 12 miles a week at this point, so she told me to only do the 200, 400, and 800 (that's a half lap, full lap, and two laps). Between runs, we were to check our pulse and when it got to 120 beats per minute, begin the next run.

So we run the 200 - I was last, of course. Most runners were finishing in 30-45 seconds. I finished in 53 seconds (count out 8 seconds and imagine how far away I was from everyone else, then laugh.). At this point, people are cheering for the slower runners (I got lots of cheers). During the 400, I just kept saying to myself "at least I'm doing it."

The best part was during the 800. The fast group of runners was nearly halfway through their run when the slower group began ours, so they came upon us quite rapidly. There was a girl in front of me (an 8th grader) who kept looking over her shoulder at me and then speeding up (I hated her by the end of the workout. Okay not really, I just REALLY wanted to pass her and couldn't.), and she said something like, "Oh no, they're going to pass us!" I told her it wasn't about them, it was all about you and your pace. I paused, thought about it, and added:

"And you're always faster than me!"

She seemed to like that, and sped up again.

Coming through our first lap of the 800, the fast runners had finished theirs already, and they applauded us all as we came huffing through.

I finished the thing, and was told to do a "quick" 4-lap warm-down (that's a mile). I did three laps and called it a day.

Today, the backs of my legs and my butt are so sore that it actually hurts to sit down, and once sitting it hurts to get up.  I'm sure it will get better, and I'm sure I won't always be the slowest one on the track.

However, I think next week I'll go to the Team in Training track workout that is geared more towards beginners, instead of going to the track workout coached by a track coach and attended by real Runners.

Tonight, water polo! That'll make me feel better about myself! :-)