Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The Hamster Analogy

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  Today was my first track/speed/interval workout.  I have to admit that I hate running on the dreadmill these days.  I feel like a hamster endlessly running in place on its little wheel.  I get so bored that I start to look around the gym until I quit paying attention and then trip over my own feet.  It didn’t used to be this way.  I used to be able to handle over an hour on the treadmill, running for miles, but after numerous tweaks to my running form and miles spent outside, I just can’t find my rhythm on the treadmill any longer.  Then I’m getting bored, and then I’m falling on my face.  Tragic really.  

So while I’ve admitted my feelings about the treadmill, I also need to admit that I harbored the self-same feelings about the track.  I mean really, how different could it be?  It’s just running in the same general area, over and over again.  But I’ve found that I was wrong.  I imagine that if I weren’t doing intervals, I might have felt differently.  However I had to focus so much on maintaining my pace, my form and my breathing that I did not notice that I was running in circles.  Still, it didn’t feel as natural or fun as running on the road or on a trail, exploring new places, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought either.  It was harder than I thought it would be.  The effort, even for as little as I did, really pushed my limits.  I’m looking forward to doing more track workouts, to measuring my progress, and to seeing what I can do. 

Now for the hard numbers:  I did a 1.13 mile warmup at an 8:30/mile pace.  Then I did 6x885 meter intervals with quarter mile recovery laps in between.  I did the intervals respectively in 3:25.02, 3:26.69, 3:22.40, 3:31.23, 3:36.15, and 3:33.19.  That’s an average of 3:28/885 m.  I don’t think that was too shabby for a track rookie, but I still have some room for improvement.  Geek note:  Tomorrow (Wednesday) is new comics day.  Yay!  All right I need to crash.  I have a long drive tomorrow before I get my comics.  Later kids.

4 comments:

Georgia Snail said...

I like those splits! I see those numbers coming down, great job!!

Julie said...

Hi Joel,
I also get bored on the treadmill and I would much rather run outside. Nice job on your intervals...not so bad for a track rookie:)

Adam Culp (Crazy Floridian) said...

Great job on the intervals, those times rock. I have been doing intervals as well, and yours are a bit better than mine. Keep it up.

Unknown said...

Thanks guys. Y'all are too kind. Of course, I didn't mention the 18+ yr old blond girl that zipped around the track and made me look like I was running in molasses!

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