Take That Track!!

Ok I was really nervous going into today’s work. The schedule called for a mile warmup followed by 3 x 1 mile repeats at 7:21 pace jogging an 800m (2 laps around the track) for recovery and finishing with a mile cooldown. EEK! First of all, I can’t even remember the last time I did a track workout. I think I was in high school (because I have blocked my very short lived college track career out of my mind). So that was 12 years ago *cough*. Needless to say I did not know what to expect nor did I think I was capable of running a mile faster than 8 minutes. I’ve always thought of myself as having one speed, let’s call it a brisk jog. So I told myself as long as a ran all three of the miles faster than 8 minutes I would be happy (which I knew might have been a lie, I would definitely be a little bit disappointed).

I decided that my new running skirt was the perfect attire for my first track workout in over a decade. I grabbed my water bottle to bring with me as well and headed out the door to the local high school track, which is conveniently 1 mile from my house. I was a little nervous when I got there but I picked a spot on the nearest straightaway, put my water bottle down and just jumped right in. I ran in the 3rd lane, thinking that each mile repeat I could move in a lane and effectively run a little bit shorter each time. I had previously calculated in my head (on the warm up jog) how fast I should run each of the laps and what time my watch should say when I finished each lap: 1 – 1:50, 2 – 3:40, 3 – 5:30, and 4 – 7:20. After my lap 1:56 I was starting to think maybe I could do this, then the next two laps were pretty close to my target numbers so I was really excited! I ended up finishing my first mile in 7:25!!! I was in shock! I grabbed my water bottle and started jogging my two recovery laps VERY slowly. I figured that first super mile would have tired me out and the next one would surely suffer but no!! I finished that one exactly on target at 7:21!! I took my two recovery laps and then the craziest thing happened. I ran my last mile in 7:20!!! I couldn’t even believe it so when I got home I had to take a picture to share!! (Please excuse the grossly sweaty arm!)

YAYAY! Take that track! Now I can’t wait for the next track workout!!