A license to speed
THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2016
Last night I ran a short track workout in the summer heat and humidity with two new friends. We each ran at different paces, but shared the camaraderie that comes from committing to and completing a specific workout aimed at delivering targeted training benefits. (After warm-up and 100 meter strides, we ran six repeat 400s, at two specified paces, with active recovery in between. For me this amounted to 4.8 miles with 12 minutes of intensity.)
The workout was not easy - but what a thrill to be on the track! (My back story here is that after blood clots and heart flutter a little over a year ago it took me many months before I was able to get back to serious training. In previous years I would have done 15-20 track workouts by this time of year. This track workout was my fourth of the year.)
What is it about running in circles (or ovals - which my track buddy John Duffy more correctly celebrates on his license plate: "OVAL RCR") that is so compelling? After all, the same paces and distances can be run on any road or trail.
The lure of the track, for me, is all about precision, consistency and competition with myself and others. The marks on the track take away uncertainty and make it hard for me to kid myself about my level of fitness and speed. Perceived effort, timing and heart rate over specific distances - 200 meters, 400 meters, 600 meters, 800 meters, 1000 meters, 1500 meters, 5000 meters - give me unsurpassed feedback on my training progression.
Best is that a track workout offers a license to speed. Being an endurance athlete, most of my workout hours are at controlled paces. On the track, just as James Bond has a license to kill, I have a license to speed. It's the Autobahn for runners, with no speed limit. I love having the privilege to be able to take the governor off my pace, press down on the accelerator and open it up, but at the same time knowing that it's for a specific reason, over a specific distance, with the checks being not to "blow up" and to avoid injury
I'm already looking forward to next Wednesday night's track workout. Will it be "the in-and-out mile" or "250's across the grass" or a ladder or "Yassos" or another of the many, many workouts I have run over the last 23 years of consistent track running? Whatever it is, it needs to be the "right" workout for a training progression that peaks fall fitness for racing. And, whatever it is, I know I will really enjoy it, no matter the heat and difficulty.
The photo shows some of my track buddies in Illinois in the middle of a hard Jim Spivey Running Club workout. Speedy former Marquette runner John Duffy, in the red, and others in the "fast" A group, are about to lap my slower B group.
