After recovering well from Saturday's long run, I decided that I'd do a track workout today to start working on my speed. I haven't run on track since last year, so this was kind of just to get used to running fast again. There was no set goal pace, just to run comfortably hard throughout.
Originally I thought about passing on doing this workout today because it was either cloudy or rainy all day. Tomorrow looks like it is going to be even worse though. Of course it was only cloudy when I left the house and then rained during the run. It was still be better that it be rainy than really hot like it was yesterday.
Because some of the Nazareth runners were preparing for States, I waited until around 4:30 to hit the track. There were a couple kids doing sprints when I got there, but I think they were football players. Temperature wise, the weather was actually perfect. The rain was the only issue. I wasn't sure what to wear, but I just opted for a more breathable singlet. That turned out to be a good choice.
I usually don't warm up enough for these runs. Today, I did a half mile warmup though. It was good to get the legs moving before flying. I upped the pace for the fast segment and felt pretty good. I didn't want to over do it as I was planning on doing 4X400 repeats. That's not a lot, but it's a decent start.
When we did these in track, we usually just rested in between reps, so that's what I've typically done in my training as well. Today, I decided to try a 400 active recovery jog in between. It worked well although it seemed like it took me the whole 400 to recover from each set.
The weather appeared to get worse and worse too. It wasn't actually too noticeable though while I was running. My body seemed like it was starting to slip by the third rep. I never pushed too hard today, even during the final rep. I didn't quite get out of my comfortable zone. There was no point in going too far at this soon. I was just trying to get my legs used to running a little faster.
One thing that sucks is my watch is terrible in rain. It is too sensitive and it keeps changing every time a drop hits it (thinking it is my finger I guess). Therefore, I was unable to stop it between fast and slow segments, so I don't actually know what times I ran during the speed segments. You would think for a watch that cost over $300 there wouldn't be that problem. I also broke the band last week and need to get a replacement one. That's a pain because it looks like I have to get a new one online and wait for it to ship.
The other problem I encountered today was that I hurt my groin on the right side. I did the same thing last year during speedwork too. Then, I had to sit out a week. Hopefully this time, aggressive icing will work. It just gets very stiff when I sit down. Stretching didn't help much. Walking and keeping it loose seems to make it better. I'll just have to monitor it. Injuries are one of the problems of doing speedwork. I was hoping I didn't introduce it too soon, but I probably did.
Because track practice must have just ended, there were hurdles all over the track. I was tempted to try running them just for fun. I don't know how they do it though. I'm not sure I could even make it over one hurdle, let alone run it at speed. I could definitely get over a girls hurdle though.
One cool thing that just came up is that I might try putting together some high school elite group runs in the Parkway over the summer. A good runner from ACC messaged us about wanting to improve and join us for group runs and races. We have some faster runs, but I'm not sure he'd find a run where people could even keep up with him. So I was thinking of getting other good high school runs together. I have interest from two of the top girls runners in the area, who are going to States this weekend. That is a good start.
I'm a little concerned about the groin now, but this was still a good workout. It is never fun on the track, but fast running is necessary. It's the only way to get comfortable doing so in races. Since I hurt myself, I doubt that I'll do another speed session before my Freedom to Liberty run next weekend. I'm hoping I'll feel good and get out there to do an easy run tomorrow. Running Wednesday with the travel I'm doing to go to the Indy 500 could be tough.
2.5 miles - 21:22 (8:34 pace)
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