Tag Archives: track

Chapter 3

I absolutely love track work. There may be runners who think I’m out of my mind, but I do love it, and I cannot lie.

Why is there speed work in the training plan of a marathon runner? Because it works.

The best marathon training plans go to work on all aspects of the endeavor – fast running, slow running, hills running, flats running, you name it. In my training plan, one run every week is for speed work. This morning, it required a trip to the local high school track to do seven repeats of 1000 meters at a faster-than-normal pace, each separated by 45 seconds of walking. The last interval had to be same pace as the first one.

I got my start running competitively during the indoor track season of my sophomore year of high school in Providence, R.I. The indoor “track” was an old, stately National Guard armory in the heart of the city. The surface was a flat, one-tenth mile oval painted on an unforgiving hardwood floor. The air in that place seemed intent on sucking every drop of moisture from your lungs.

No matter. I loved it, and my times were quickly improving. I was ALL IN.

When it came time for outdoor season, we ran on the streets until the cinder tracks could dry from the winter snow and mud. But the hard surfaces and my bad shoes punished me, and I hurt my foot. I could barely walk pain-free. Every time I felt better, I would try to run, and the pain would return. I had to stop. I thought it was a muscle strain, but in retrospect, it must have been a stress fracture. I didn’t go back to running until I was done with college.

I missed that outdoor season – perhaps more than I realized at the time.

So this morning, while it was still dark, I did an easy mile and a half jog to the local track to warm up. The school parking lots were still empty, the gates were open, and it was just me, my watch, and my training plan.

A thousand meters is two and half times around the track. My plan prescribed each interval at between 5:35 and 5:47, with very little variation. Faster would be OK, if I could handle it and stay there. And on every other interval, practice drinking water while running.

I did the first 1k within the prescribed range, and then snapped off all the rest at BELOW the range. That’s what felt right. And it forced me to concentrate! Get the distance right, keep the same pace, drink my water, and most important, keep an accurate count of how many intervals I had done. As #5 and #6 approached, I was working harder, but that was exactly the point. I was doing fine.

By the time interval #7 was complete, 45 minutes later, the sky was brighter, my legs were heavier, and I had crushed the workout. Time had flown by, and I felt a deep sense of satisfaction. I was where I was meant to be.

And as a bonus, I didn’t choke when I tried to drink and run at the same time.

The rest of the week

Last Saturday, the long run was a 12-miler. I chose a paved trail in Fairfax County that I had run only once before – the Washington & Old Dominion, a rehabilitated railroad right-of-way. A heat wave had finally broken. At 7 a.m. it was sunny, only 62 degrees, and the dew point was in the 50s. Heaven!

And the trail was busy! Runners, walkers, bikers, people with strollers, and all combinations thereof. I saw one guy pushing a stroller containing a crying infant, a whiny toddler, while dragging a small dog on a leash. He deserved a medal.

The run was quite successful, though I’m a little uncertain about the precise time and distance because of operator error with my watch. (Ugh.)

So far, so good. Next weekend – another 11 miler.