Speedwork Sunday - Flyin' Solo

Today I decided to hit the track again. Since I did my long run yesterday on the treadmill, I don't need to go out with the Sub-3 Hour Marathon Run Club, and I can try to promote my clinic. I arrived at the Running Room just before 8:30 and started walking around, talking to a few people and getting ready to go to the track again. Looks like everybody else is doing their long run today. Oh well! I guess I'll be hitting the track on my own. Here's where they say running is a solitary sport. I'm running, I'm solitary, I'm the solitary runner.

The rain has pretty much eased off, but the gravel track at Brockton Oval is a little muddy. I can feel a bit of slippage on the ground when I'm running, and there's a puddle or two to avoid. My first lap around the track was successful, and now I'm doing a half-lap for recovery. 400m sprinting, followed by 200m jogging. Lap 2 and 3 went by without incident, and now, the final lap, the one for all the marbles.

I paused for a second to scrape the caked mud out from the waffle tread of my running shoes (don't want to blow a tire coming around that corner) and I'm off! Visualizing my stride, I make an effort to lift the knees and make my foot land on the "sweet spot" every time. This is a good chance to work on my form.

The final turn approaches and I get ready to shift into low gear. I have several factors working in my favor today: It's cooler, being 8:30AM. It's drizzling, so I'm constantly cooled off. There's no competition other than myself; and I had a great sleep last night. Now let's see what we can do!

I dug in and powered through the final 50 meters or so. It felt good to just finish strong. My time? I didn't even bring a watch today, so your guess is as good as mine. Sometimes it's not all about your time on the stopwatch. If you want to get faster, stronger and longer-lasting, you've got to put in the maintenance runs to improve your technique and form. I sure as hell didn't run slow, but my pace felt about "average".

It's like a guitar teacher tells his student: You'll get better at playing the fast solos if you break them down and play them slow first, appreciating each note and understanding its place in the piece of music. It's Mental Gymnastics.