Time to Read: ~3 minThis week was the first of our MITHACAL Milers workouts. Xander, Scott and I signed up to participate in this indoor training through FLRC over the winter. The first workout was our time trial!! We would run a timed mile to set all our training paces for the winter.
The timing was interesting because right after cross country ended, Scott and I decided to take a month off from running. Well, in truth Scott decided to take a month off and I chose to copy him. I remember our friend and owner of Finger Lakes Running and Triathlon Company Ian saying that runners should take an extended break every year to let their bodies recuperate, get fat (he said jokingly I think) and just reflect. There is plenty of time to run and we all need a break from it.
I hadn't exactly enjoyed the month off, but the time did fly by and we filled it with things like lifting and other cardio so I didn't feel like I lost too much fitness. My first run back made me feel like I wasn't a runner anymore!! Of course it didn't help that I was struggling to get breath through my cold. By this evening I'd had 2 runs over the past 3 days to get back into the swing of things.
Aren't you excited?
4 of us had our Tom Tom watches on
Scott asked me as I kept slowing down as we were walking toward Barton. "Not especially," I replied. "I'm nervous." He went on asking me if I wanted to get faster. I said, "Not really." Of course I didn't mean this. I am excited about the challenge, I'm just afraid. Most of the training Scott and I do is alone and almost all of the speed work is alone. I find it hard to run full out with others. I think it is the lingering terrible memories from high school track that just fill my heart with fear as I head into something like this.
The mile
We began our evening with a nice series of stretches to help open up and stretch out our hips and then we ran for 10 minutes. The track at Barton Hall at Cornell is an 8 lap mile so we'd be running this track 8 times. I said that I struggle with running in circles and my friend Tonya said, "Well actually they are ovals if that helps." That's exactly what Scott told me when I was whining. I smiled.
Before you could even think about it we were off and running. I had sent in a time estimate weeks ago so Adam (our fearless leader) would have some idea of what to expect. I came up with it based on my fastest 5K time and my prediction was 7:45. However, that night I forgot what my prediction was and I didn't do the math to know what my lap pace should be. I just ran.
While running I kept thinking, "When will this be over?" and just tried to count laps properly. My calf was tight by the end which I think is a function of not running for so long and then running all out. I ended up with a 7:25 mile and while that was slow for the group it was right near where I predicted.
With Scott after our mile.
More stretching and final thoughts
After the mile we did a 400 and a 200 and then some final stretching and core work. I felt more comfortable with the 400 and 200 because I've done more work with these distances and they are shorter. In fact, I don't think I've ever run a mile for time. As things go it wasn't all that painful.
We now need to look up our training targets for the winter based on our mile time. I admit that I'm excited now! It will be fun to train with people, make new friends and hopefully increase my short distance speed!!