Hills in the dark, speed in daylight
Tuesday evening found me heading for the Bryn Mawr hills in frigid cold weather. I knew I needed to get back to some real workouts after my New Year's Day race in Swarthmore. The time on my watch was 29:12, which will probably show up slower when they publish official results. Not my strongest effort, but even so I was second in my age group, which was lovely enough for me that day--just a nice workout on a sunny, warmish day for January--way better than the ice field that covered the track last year.Still, it was clearly time to get back to the shape I was in when I ran 27:34 n the Reindeer Romp! The holiday eating was delicious and I loved all the wonderful rich food--and even more, the wonderful, richly happy family gatherings! Much valued rest time after an intense year of reaching goals!
Now, new year, new goals!
So, this week, maybe because of the rest, the workouts proved all the more satisfying.
- Bryn Mawr hill workout: Bob's assignment--9 repeats of the entire hill (which I later learned from Jason was ~450 meters... given my times, I was hoping it was closer to 600, but Jason reassured me by reminding me that gravity played a part in the effort. A large part in my case. I ended up with seven repeats, only because after the seventh, I saw the group looking poised to return to the store, and I didn't want to be in an isolated place by myself for the remaining two. The good news was that the sixth one, the last one I timed, was the fastest and I felt as if I could do more if I didn't the isolation. Spiritual take-away: en route there, despite having looked forward to coming back to the hill workouts, all the doubts crept in. The inner "whiny kid" started up: "This is crazy! It's cold! It's dark! I want to go home! Whimper, whimper!" "Oh pipe down!" my ambitious self said. "Time to get mentally tough!" And the more encouraging, gentler side chimed in, "Remember, there's beer afterward!" So I stayed in the moment, dropped off my bag in the store, and headed out. I always start before the others. It takes me longer to get there, and I'd rather not get to the workout by the time everyone's leaving. (Okay, I'm not THAT slow, but when I warm up, I am considerably slower than the rest of the group.) The whimpering started up again from the store to the hill. "It's dark! I'll trip! I'll get hit by a car! Blah, blah blah, etc. etc." But again, the stronger side of me jumped in. "You KNOW you're not going to give up now!" When Bob announced the workout and I learned that it was by distance (the length of the hill) rather than by time, the frightened little kid again started up. "Everyone's going to be faster! I can't do this! I'll trip! I can't see! I'll look like an idiot!" But again, the stronger me came to the rescue. "JUST DO IT! Who cares if the others do twice as many repeats! You're here for your workout, not theirs! Do your best!" After a while, I settled into a rhythm, didn't trip on any cracks, and managed to get faster almost every time (not, you should know, anything like "elite fast"--or even "fast for me" fast, but faster than I was at the start. This was at least somewhat encouraging! After the sixth one, I'd planned to stop, but I had left one of the layers I'd shed at the bottom of the hill, so I needed to go back for it. Even then, I thought if the shirt another runner had left was still there, I'd try for all nine, but it was gone. Still, I had time for one more hill. It wasn't nine but I realized that even my fear wasn't a bad thing. Life will give us times when we have to make our way in the dark, not sure where we are, stepping carefully, feeling cold, wanting to go home--and to have practice handling this feeling is a good thing.
- Lansdowne Y, 1500 yard swim, Wednesday. This was done at a relatively comfortable pace, but I noted with satisfaction that I eventually easily passed a man who at first tried to stay ahead of me. I noticed I was able to hold my form for a longer time. And afterward, I felt surprisingly light.
- Uppper Darby High School track, Thursday: Probably my most comfortable of the three workouts. 3 x 400/100 easy, 300/200 easy, 200/300 easy, 100/400 easy (800 easy after last set). Times surprised me: Set 1 2:09.54 (expected to see 2:20); 1:35.15, 1:02 (but was maybe a couple seconds faster--couldn't stop watch right away); 24.00; Set 2 1:59.96, 85.95, 55.3, 24.3; Set 3 2:00.21, 86.69, 56.09, 23.23. I was considering a fourth set, but realized it was wiser to hold off, get my body used to this kind of workout. The 100s surprised me the most. In the first set, I expected to see a 27 or 28. In fact, just about all the times were faster than expected. I'd gone to the track to look for my speed which I thought possibly still on holiday break (given my times in the 5k and in the hill workout), so I figured it might be lurking somewhere on the track. And there it was, waiting for me! Coming back with it, I noticed I was running more relaxed, more freely. My speed and I back together!
A good week of workouts so far!
posted by DPMcManus @ 1:45 PM
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