Wednesday, August 15, 2007

How about a little cake with your speed work?

Tonight I met up with Instructor S's running group for a little speed work along the Bow River pathway starting at Edworthy park. The plan was to do an easy jog for 10 min to warm up, then do 10 repeats of 2 min fast, 1 min slow, then another 10 min easy jog to cool down. During the easy jog I was thinking to myself, "This is great...I can keep up with these girls. This is going to be awesome." And then the speed work started. I think I discovered something about myself this evening. I really only have one speed. Sometimes I'll be slower on uphills, sometimes I'll be faster on downhills, but on flat ground....there is not a lot of differentiation between my fast and my slow running. At least that is what it felt like towards the end... I hung with the front girls during the first three minutes, but in the second pick up I lost them and wound up playing catch up the entire rest of the run. There were a couple of ladies a ways behind me, but otherwise I was alone with my thoughts on this speed workout. Here were my thoughts:
  • Minutes 0-10: Hey....this is OK....this is going to be a great run.
  • Minutes 10-13: Hmm, this speed work thing is tough.
  • Minutes 13-15: Oops, I'm too slow...on my own.
  • Minutes 15-25: Speed work sucks. Why did I think this was a good idea?
  • Minute 25: Hey, I just remembered that I totally forgot to put Body Glide on.
  • Minutes 26-50: Oh...dear...for the love of...why did I forget to put Body Glide on???
  • Minutes 27 - 40: Oh...hey...I think I feel some lactic acid in my legs...
  • Minute 40: Thank goodness for the cool down...I hate speed work.
One of the gals in the group was celebrating her birthday today, so another gal brought cake so we could all join in the fun. This group running thing isn't so bad if there is cake afterwards! So we put the tailgate down on the pick up and stood around chowing down cake which made for a great end to the evening. And then...bonus! Another lady in the group works for IKEA and she happened to have a bunch of coupons for money off. Looks like someone is taking a trip to IKEA this weekend.... And the fact that I hate speed work probably means that I should be doing more of it. Maybe I should be alternating hills and speed work..??

4 comments:

Laurel said...

Haha. At least you got cake!

Ohh and IKEA coupons! They have a bookcase I have been eyeing lately.

Good job on the speedwork. It sucks but is so worth it.

Lauren @ mostly i run said...

I feel like I have one pace, too.

Race Pace?
Nah ... it's more how I'm feeling the morning of a race. If it's a good day, I'll probably be a little faster than training runs ... but I don't necessarily have a race pace!

Certainly, you earned that cake!

See -- groups have benefits. We always go out to brunch after our Saturday morning runs, and have occasional birthday dinners after weekday evening runs!

Moon said...

Okay, so this might be one of those don't-ask-don't-tell questions, but really, what exactly does Body Glide DO? I always see people talk about it, but I don't really know what it does or how you're supposed to use it... *is lame*

I haven't tried any speedwork yet, but something tells me that I'm going to fall in somewhere like you do, with having one approximate speed at all times. Oh well, could be worse.

Keep rockin' it, girl! :)

TNTcoach Ken said...

Yay, group running and now speedwork! We all hate it until it's over. You'll notice a difference in no time.