When I say fast, I mean anything more sprightly than a jog, but wait…I don’t like the term “jogging” so what am I trying to say?
I didn’t actually want to run tonight.
I haven’t been out for a run since last week Wednesday because of bad knee and childcare issues, so I should have been grateful that my sister agreed to have Rose so I could go to track night.
But sitting in the warmth of my flat at 4pm I could so easily have pulled out. I was so fearful of this that I actually went and put my kit on so that I wouldn’t chicken out.
It took an hour and 15 minutes to travel the short distance to the track, traffic was horrific. It was cold. Rain was threatening. Hmmm I was not in a great mood by the time I arrived on the misty floodlit track.
Laura one of my marathon challenge ladies was coming to track for the first time this evening, so I felt compelled to make an appearance, but we didn’t get much of a chance to chat because nobody was in the mood for hanging around chatting…it was too cold for that. The session started bang on time.
But back to me not liking running fast. I rarely run at a speed that can be considered fast, perhaps even never unless you compare me to a running caterpillar.
This evenings session was intervals. 200meter full out and 100meter recovery. 25 reps. In the cold. With a dodgy knee. It was always going to be a struggle.
I have issues with running one lap around the track without stopping let alone running around numerous times at different pace settings…I normally only have one speed setting and that is slow.
But I gave it a go.
After 2 laps I had kinda had enough, but I thought I had better set an example to Laura, and to another lovely lady called Natalie who said she had read my blog. In fact Natalie was great. She came along at just the right time. We had a good ole chin wag and she encouraged me to do 3 laps more than I would have done otherwise.
I simply can not run fast, it’s as simple as that. Although I did overtake Patrick this evening…he is like the clubs fastest runner. He was doing an extra extra slow recovery leg (maybe so I could overtake him even) it made my night!!
Intervals are great for making you run faster than you would ever run normally. If you miss them out of your training programme altogether your speed is unlikely to ever change…I see the most amount of progress when I go to track. I just need to go more often hey?