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Back on (the) track

Back on (the) track

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Last week was my first week back on the track, or doing any sort of speedwork, since when I was in the throes of Boston 2010 training.  The schedule called for 4×800, and since the aforedescribed lightning spectacle prohibited me from doing it with my buddies on Wednesday night, I sucked it up and did it by myself… sola.

From middle throughout high school, I was always a track girl each spring, though of the sprinter mindset.  It’s pretty funny to think about this now, because back then, if you would have told me to go run a couple miles, I would have scoffed and probably have hidden under the bleachers until an acceptable amount of time passed.  I never understood why distance runners actually ran a couple “warm up” miles before their 800, 1600, or 3200 m event– because, after all, why would you ever run a *long* distance warm-up run to prepare you for another *long* distance race?  My, how things have changed!!

Anyway.  Nestled right amidst the Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Northwestern University lakefront campus is an all-purpose outdoor track and softball fields, affectionately called the Lake Shore Park, since it’s right at Chicago Ave. and Lake Shore Drive.  After about a 2 mile warm-up there from work, I took a breath of courage (and mental tenacity, because I really didn’t want to be doing this by myself… speedwork, and pain in general, is usually more tolerable with others) and began the 800s and planned to do about 200 meters, or 2ish minutes of recovery, in between each one.

I’m happy to report that they actually went fairly well.  Granted, I was a little rusty from not doing speed in quite some time, and my times slowed a bit as I progressed, but I finished with 3:28, 3:31, 3:34, and 3:38.  I was shooting for somewhere between a 3:30-3:40 and tried to hit 3:35, but as you can see, that never happened.  After a mile cool-down, I bussed it back home and finished the night with some push-ups and core work.  It was a rather productive Thursday evening, and I can guarantee you that I slept like los muertos that night. 🙂

I can’t stress enough how important speedwork is to becoming a better, faster, fitter runner, and this is especially true for the marathoners of the world.  It doesn’t matter if you run a 6 hour or a 3 hour marathon; everyone has something to gain from speedwork.  Running 800s, or mile repeats, or hills forces you to leave that “long, slow run” mentality that often dominates, if not pervades, marathon training.  Speedwork makes you cognizant of your running form, for you can’t move all that quickly if your form is out of whack (a technical term, I know, I know…).  And, quite frankly, speedwork is FUN, IMHO, in a sick and twisted sort of way.  If you’re strapped for time and can’t do your entire workout, I strongly suggest you consider doing some sort of speedwork workout instead.  These workouts are usually short in duration but high in intensity.  And, like I said, they’re fun 🙂

Here are some additional resources on speedwork: doing speedwork sans track, speedwork 101 and the marathon connection, and more FAQ about speed.

Mother Nature versus Your Run (or, When Lightning Strikes…)

Mother Nature versus Your Run (or, When Lightning Strikes…)

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Last Wednesday (6/23), my training buddies and I were gearing up for what would have been (for many of us) our first post-Boston Marathon speedwork session, in preparation for the Chicago Marathon on 10.10.10.  Since there were five of us involved, and one gal had to trek in from the suburbs to do it, you can only imagine all the back-and-forth emails, detailing our logistics, that passed among us in the impending hours.

And then Mother Nature gave us a big F-U and decided that speed just wasn’t going to happen that night.

If you’re not from the Chicago area, it’s likely that you didn’t hear about the tornado that swept through parts of the greater Chicagoland area or the absolutely wicked, somewhat infernal thunderstorm we had that night.  Though no tornado touched down in Chicago, proper, we had what amounted to a laser light show of lightning and just buckets’ worth of rain pelted down on us from roughly 5:30 until well after 9 that night.  The picture, below, taken by a Tribune photographer, gives you a glimpse into the amazing weather conditions we had last week.

Images of lightning hitting both the Sears and Trump Towers simultaneously

…which leads me to the real purpose of this post.  I’m the type of runner who doesn’t mind running in the element—thunder, rain, snow, ice, heat, frigidity, whatever—but as soon as lightning enters into the fray, I’m high-tailing it out to seek cover.

A quick scouring online just now brings up all sorts of formulas about how fast you’d have to run to “outrun” an eminent thunder and lightning storm, but I’ll take this quick little adage from the National Lightning Safety Institute: “if you can see it, flee it (take shelter immediately); if you can hear it, clear it (stop what you’re doing and find a safe place to wait).” The National Weather Service also has a good resource on lightning safety for outdoor activities.

Though irked I was to not be able to do my speedwork that night, at the end of the day, I run to maintain and increase my health.  And I can’t do either if I’ve been struck dead by lightning.

Can’t get a much more self-evident formula than that.