Today, I finally made friends with the track. I know, shocker. Also, this post will be a tad long because it is going to include my last three runs. But back to the matter at hand -- I made friends with the track, and even fell in love (a little) with it. It is no secret that I don't like the track, well really the running in circles part. The flat, even surface with the chance to get faster is appealing. However, I did a 4x1200 workout today with 400 recovery in between and felt amazing afterwards. I even texted my mom that my track workout was fantastic -- I would have paid good money to see her reading that text.
I set out with the intention to complete all four intervals under six minutes. I did them in 6:10, 6:00, 5:45 and 5:47. For running 10 miles yesterday and driving home from Stone Harbor last night at 10:30 (we will get to that later) I surpassed my expectations. I was really feeling strong, striding well and the best part? I wasn't wearing my compression socks. It was just me, my watch and the track. However, there was another part of the workout that made it worth it -- it was an encounter with a fellow runner when I finished. I saw this man arrive to the track on his bike and take an outer lane to complete his run/walk workout. At one time I pace off of him for a lap, but most of the time I kept passing him. I have no idea what his name is an I probably won't see him again, but he made my day. When I finished and started walking off the track, he came over and said that he was impressed with my run and I was inspiring him during his workout. It turns out he is coming back from meniscus surgery in his knee (just a month removed). I was so happy that I gushed to him how this was my fourth track workout, but my best one yet. I couldn't believe how happy I was and how great my body felt -- it really is an amazing machine. We traded marathon stories for a bit and I went on my way and he went back to his workout. Hours later I still cannot decided what had more of an impact -- the fact that I inspired someone or that he noticed how hard I was working. Both make for a great feeling. If we go back a few days, it is Monday and I am awake at 4 a.m. to drive to Stone Harbor, NJ for three days with my aunt, uncle and cousin. I was on the road by 5 a.m. and in Stone Harbor by 8:30 a.m. As we know, Monday are supposed to be track days, but if you are still reading, you know I did this week's on Thursday. Due to the excitement of the shore and seeing my family, I decided that I would make this Monday my rest day, Tuesday track and back to regular schedule for Wednesday. I did play tennis on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in addition to the running. On Tuesday, I went in search of a track in the southern tip of Jersey. There was probably one in Wildwood, but not wanting to go too far, I decided to again rearrange the schedule and do my Thursday run on Tuesday, keep the tempo on Wednesday and do the Monday track workout on Thursday. That left me doing an easy six before playing tennis on Tuesday. It was quickly becoming one of hottest days of the summer and it took me a 1:02 to finish my six miles -- I had to stop and do some rearranging of my outfit, I took off the compression socks midriff, they were too hot. Tuesday wasn't really anything to write home about except for the fact that I had gone so hard in tennis the day before, my forearm was very sore. Wednesday was my seven mile tempo run and I was running with my friend Jon. He is also trying to BQ and his family was in Ocean City, NJ for the week. We agreed to run in Stone Harbor so we didn't have to run on the boardwalk and that we were going to do a total of 10 miles. We hoped to do the seven tempo miles with a 8:15 pace, but according to my watch did it in 9:22 -- equating to somewhere between a 4:00 and 4:15 marathon pace. We ended up okay with our slower pace because of a few things -- the humidity was gross, this was the first time we were running together and the first time we had seen each other since May so we were using it to catch up with each other. However, if you have been reading along, you know I don't run with very many people so it is kind of a big deal that we ran together. Granted we have been supporting each other for the BQ training and plan to run the same race in the spring if we need to BQ for 2017. It was great fun to run with Jon and it would have been even better without the humidity. As you can see from the picture, it was a scorcher out there. The motto for this week has been adaptability and I believe I rearranged my workouts so they fit nicely and I still got all the milage I wanted. The lesson thus far has been the body is an incredible machine. I look forward to the rest of the week. Especially after today's track run, I am starting to believe in myself even more!
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Megan FloodMegan is 29 and a 14-time marathoner. She is hoping to Boston Qualify one day. She doesn't know exactly how this blogging will go, but she is giving it her best shot! Archives
June 2019
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Marathoning Megan