Speed Sessions Week 1

Yesterday was my first track session with Fleet Feet Sports. It was a very new experience to me and it showed me just how far I have come as a runner!

We warmed up with a progressive five laps around the track. Basically, each lap was slightly faster than the one before. (Funny story: I thought that was the workout at first. I was wrong)

We then did some dynamic warm ups including high knees, butt kicks, and high jumps.

The actual workout (I came to find out) was a 2 mile time trial. We will be basing our workouts each week on this base time. So essentially, just run 8 laps as fast as you can!

Here were my thoughts on this. I have never been a fast runner, but I signed up for these sessions because I want to improve instead of just deciding I'm a slow runner. I am not under the impression that I will ever run a 6 minute mile, but I want to be able to maximize my own abilities. I have gotten very complacent in a very slow pace. It isn't necessarily "comfortable" but it also isn't "uncomfortable" aside from normal distance fatigue. So I signed up for the speed sessions to find out how much I am capable of and hopefully improve my times slightly.

Here's what happened. I surprised myself! I totally forgot music and water so I was bound and determined to just get the run over with. But I also didn't want to sell myself short. I've been running for a while now and I knew I could give a lot more. I basically did all I could do and gave as much as I could. While I'm still not sure I gave 100%, I think I was pretty much around 80%. When I completed my first mile and looked at my watch, I thought it was broken. It said 9:52. I know to most people, that is a pretty comfortable pace, but it is a good minute and a half faster than my fastest mile in the past year. I'm not going to lie, I may have cried a bit. The second mile was 10:21, still very impressive for me! So my total 2 mile time was 20:13!

Here are the implications (I hope) of this experience. I'm not yet real worried about my marathon time. My main goal there is to finish. However, if I can run 2 miles in 20 minutes, I can push my 5k's a lot more than I have been. I have a 5k scheduled for next month and so I am going to push for a good time in that. I'm hoping it will also improve my half marathon time. My ultimate goal for my half marathon is a 2:30, but I'm not sure I'm there yet. With my half marathon next month, my goal is going to be 2:40 and if I beat that, it'll be great :)

On top of all of this great running, we got super cool hats! (Will post a picture eventually) Thanks Christi Beth and Fleet Feet!