I thought I was in half-way decent shape, so I wasn’t too worried when I decided to do speedwork with a new (to me) group. Running speedwork with a group is definitely better than solo.
What I didn’t take into account, was that I have a LOT more work to do.
The first 400 was my first clue I was in trouble. Everyone else accelerated away from me within a couple steps off the line, and I was DFL, where I remained for the rest of the lap.
Our workout was a ladder: 400m, 800m, 1200m, 1600m, 1200m, 800m, 400m. (400m = 1 lap, just in case you didn’t know) You are supposed to run it around your 5K pace. I haven’t done a 5k in ages, so I just chose a compromise between my GOAL 5k pace, and something that wouldn’t be TOO embarrassingly behind everyone else, but amazingly right at my goal 5K pace of about 6:00/mi.
The next interval was 800m, one of my favorite distances in high school. I was determined not to DFL on this one. On the backstretch, I surged a little, and got to somewhere mid to mid back of the pack, and hung on to finish with a 2:50 or so. Made me feel better in one way, but that wasn’t too wise as far as being able to complete the workout. The 1:30 rest period ended way too soon.
As soon as the 1200 started, I knew I was in trouble. I faded early; I had no gas in the tank. After one lap, Ryan, the coach, said just keep this one to 800. That pepped me up, and I think I finished that one around 3:00 to 3:10, somewhere near the 6:00/mi pace I was working on.
Then the 1600 started, and when I saw everyone again drop me in the first few steps, I settled in for more torture. Ryan again suggested I cut off a lap, to 1200m. I was grateful, and again, hit my goal pace.
At the start of the 2nd 1200, I was used to the idea of cutting a lap, so I resolved to run it as an 800, without Ryan having to tell me. I was starting to feel better with the shorter runs and more rest that cutting the laps was giving me.
At the last 400, I decided to finish on a good note, and not DFL. On the backstretch, I turned on the “jets”, meager as they are, and got to somewhere in the middle of the pack before the final turn, and then held it to the end, in a 75 sec lap. That’s about 15 seconds faster than I should have, but I was tired of being last, and I needed a psychological boost.
I know it’s probably kind of lame to detail an individual workout like this, but as it was the first real group speedwork on a track in almost 2 decades, this was a big day for me.
Hopefully, I will look back on this in a couple months, and laugh.
This does remind me of the benefit of running with people faster than you. When I was in HS, I was having problems with my race times being not very impressive, so my coach did something sneaky. He lied about my times to get me in the faster heats! I was horrified! But it worked.
My desire to not DFL was way higher than my desire to “win”. By getting me into the “fast heat”, it had a stunning impact on my times. I still finished in the middle, but I had to run way faster to do so.
I am hoping that training with these fast dudes and dudettes will have a similar effect on my training now.