Viva la Running Track

i can't remember the last time i ran on a running track. it must have been primary school. i have a vague memory of winning one (and only one) 100m race at a school athletics carnival because the dude shooting the gun didn't see my false start and i didn't enlighten him.

generally throughout schooling my strengths were much more field than track, and i did go onto district/state for high jump + discus. but running? that meant you actually needed to be able to RUN!

ok so there we were yesterday, me (scared), and three Personal Trainers (enthusiastic). it was agreed that we would be doing a pyramid, and i instantly thought of this kind of arrangement


thankfully, this was not what they were suggesting. but rather a decline/incline in distance around the track. so the drill was; 400m/300m/200m/100m/100m/200m/300m/400m. after each distance, a two minute recovery.

it was tough, really tough. i had no idea how to pace myself for a sprint longer than 100m, and after each leg found myself in the 'i'm going to be sick' category. i didn't even make the last 400m set. this was hard work.

of course, the three PTs left me for dust each time. by the time i came through on the finish line they were sipping margaritas and getting foot massages. it was super intimidating running with faster runners at first, but once i'd settled into seeing their backs fade into the distance, it was fine. a little ego draining, sure, but we all need a little bit of this occasionally.

i'm sure it's going to do wonders for increasing my speed, which really *cough* really needs to happen. the fun factor was pretty good too, running on a track was different + it was lovely to have an actual finish line instead of a random stationary object (how many times have i heard now, "Lets run to the bench!" "Let's go to the bin!" "We'll finish at that tree there, the fourth one, on the left!")

perhaps next time, to mix things up, i'll put a park bench next to the finish line