Welcome Back, Track

I've officially inducted myself to the 2009 track season; I went over to the high school and ran intervals over at the track. I had been running them on the treadmill during winter and not because it's been too cold out to do them; I'll run outside in 0 degrees with no problem, but repeatedly running around a 400 M circle in the dark is another story. So the treadmill and I have been pretty intimate this winter and I am one actually relieved to be rid of it for awhile. So with temps on the 70's today and prolonged daylight savings sunshine, I thought tonight would be an ideal night to give the track a try.

One thing nice about the treadmill, I will admit, is that you can set a specific pace on the thingy and off you go, taking all the guess-work out of the unknown pace....and cranking out intervals at a much too fast pace - which I am notoriously famous for doing. So not only is it good for my lungs to get the fresh air, my mind to concentrate at the task at hand and not flipping aimlessly through treadmill wasteland television; the track also helps me gauge my pace more accurately by my own little self!

I don't own a snazzy Garmin watch to tell me my pace; I do it the old fashioned way by mathematically computing what a 7:15 pace per mile is and dividing by 4 to give me what I need to be hitting each quarter at. Normally this function isn't too much of a challenge but today I was off on my last quarter and spent way too much time readjusting figures in my head and thus, I hit the first one too fast (imagine) but managed to land the next several right where I needed to be. But I was really struggling with air and struggling to get my mind off the task at hand; which is where I need to be to do these without dying. I was also having some stomach problems before I even started, which carried over to the run. But in the end, I finally DID finish them all, with #5 and 6 being a bit too fast and #7 and #8 making concessions by running a bit too slow. I also determined it's a huge bonus to have a coach or a running partner or a friend there helping you with these because your mind is not operating at anywhere near close to a normal capacity and a little help is what this chick needs!!!!!!

A very Happy Irish Day to ya all and I hope the traditional day's luck was with you! I think on my list of things to do in my life, I'm going to take Irish Step Dancing lessons! I'm certain I'll be kicked out of class by day 2 since I do not have an ounce of coordination (remember Salsa Dancing class, Karen???); but I don't care, I LOVE IT!

9 miles interval run