MITHACAL Milers Week 5

After running the Hartshorne Masters mile on Sunday we'd all be training together again on Tuesday. For week 4, some of the group members did a fast progression to be ready for the race and others did a longer workout because the race wasn't on their weekend agenda.

I was happy to be back with the big group on Tuesday and wasn't even alarmed when we got the email saying we'd be doing 800s. I am proud of this because every other week I have been afraid as I head up. I wonder if I can keep up, wonder why I signed up and have to constantly say to myself that I can do it! There were no such feelings this week.

Scott and I had to hit BJs either before or after the workout so we opted to leave early and cross that off our list. As a result, we arrived with plenty of time to spare before the training. It it is so much more relaxing to arrive early!

I got my chocolate medal from the race for winning my age group (I was the only person in my age group) and a monetary award for it being my first time running this event (I'll include info about that in my post about the race) and got ready to run.

One of our cross country running friends was there. She hadn't been before. She shared that she had asked Tonya and Adam if they were free and they invited her to join in. She had a baby sitter for her 3 and a half year old twins and her husband was out of town. It was fun to see her! The Lansing cross country coach is part of this group and she brought a lot of her team members this particular evening. Several of the girls joined our 7 minute mile repeat crew. This is one of the things I particularly love about this group and running in general. Ages and genders can blend in together so easily in this sport.

After warm-ups there were several groups of folks doing the 10 minute warm-up. We enjoyed catching up about our weekends and talking about the mile as we warmed up. Soon it was time to begin and there wasn't much time to think about it! We determined we were going for a 3:40 800 pace and we were off.

The first 800 was really cool. I've learned about pacing from Tonya and shouted out our lap time at the end of each 200. I ran just off Tonya's shoulder because it felt comfortable. Our group spread out enough to fit us all and we all held our pace goal. We had 2 minutes to cool down which translated into a very slow lap for us. I thought after the fact that I should have timed the two minutes, but it never occurred to me at the time.

Each 800 felt different - possible but different. Repeats this long are where I really feel the power of the group. You just go. There is no stopping, whining or quitting because the group is going. No reasoning about being tired, no unplanned drink breaks. Just get it done with the group. Soon we had finished our 4 and it was time to cool down.

Another great week of training!