Running in Circles

I’m still slightly amazed at myself for this, but I made it to yet another Thursday morning track workout this week!

This is amazing because we meet at 5:45am…and I live 40 minutes away from the track…you do the math on what time I need to get up…

That’s what the track looks like at the END of our workouts!

This week was a GREAT workout – once I got moving.  We walked 1 lap to start & boy was I dragging ass!

But then we started running – and I felt pretty darn good!

We’re pretty casual about our workouts & don’t do exact “measured” or “timed” intervals on the track.  Instead we have a few “landmarks”  (like the goalpost, the gate in the middle, the sign at the end) that we use as a guide for when to start & stop each effort and we alternate between “running” and “jogging” and walking – so all perceived effort.

And you know what?  I think it’s paying off!

Really?!  3.76 miles at an average pace of 11:33??  At 5-effing-45 in the morning?? And that includes the final lap of walking to cool down!

I’m noticing that my run intervals on “regular” run days are getting a bit quicker too – instead of being in the 12:00 range I’m wavering between 10:30 and 11:00 now!  Which means my overall pace during “regular” runs is averaging about 12:15.  (Although I would be remiss without mentioning that I still walk far too slowly during my walk intervals – bringing those up would help my overall pace SO much!)

All of this hard work is being put to the test tomorrow morning.  Me & the other ladies from Karna will be running 4 miles together then running a 4 mile race.

(source)

I don’t have any wild and crazy goals for the race…In fact, I don’t even know what my current PR for the race is (I’ve ran it 2 or 3 times before…seesh, I can’t even remember THAT). 

But I will admit, a 12:10 overall pace would be sweet!

Until then, I’ll remember all of the hard work we’re putting in on Thursday mornings. 

Dare I say I’m already looking forward to next week’s track session?!?!