A Night of Feeling REALLY SLOW!

Wow...I haven't done an actual running-workout post in quite awhile, have I?

Tonight I did the San Diego Track Club Tuesday night workout. Since Daylight Saving's time ended (or did it begin? I can't ever keep track of which is which, all I know is that by 5:00, it's freekin' dark now...which I hate). Anyway, since the time change, the track club Tuesday night workouts have moved from Balboa Park to a local high school track, which is near my house, and which is where I used to teach (quite convenient!)

I like track workouts. A. they're fast and by that I mean that they're usually over in an hour and a half or so; B. it's USUALLY an opportunity to see some of the herd mid-week.

Tonight, "A" would be true. "B" would not.

The workout tonight was to do 10 x 400s with a partner. It sorta worked like a relay. I would run a 400, then my partner, then me, and so on....10 times, and since none of the herd was in attendance, my partner was....

Santiago! I love this picture, which was taken during one of the marathon training runs, because the expression on his face makes me imagine he was thinking "get that damn camera out of my face or I'm throwing my elbow your way!"

What's a sure fire way to run harder and faster than you ever intended? Do a partner run with a guy almost 20 years younger than you.

So, it was a good workout, the complete opposite of what I was intending when I started. I certainly ran faster and harder than I would have if left to run at my own pace. I wish I knew how fast I was running, but even though I've owned my Garmin for more than a year, I still have no idea how to record laps automatically. Let's just say that the one lap that I did time correctly said I was running a 8:42 pace.

Yeah, it was only one lap, but I mean SERIOUSLY...WTF is THAT?

Oh...and just for giggles, we did 8 x 100 strides afterwards...and some crunches...and planks*...and something called an elvira...or something like that where you sort of sit with your legs in the air and twist back and forth. Three counts = 1...we did 25 of those.

So....I suspect I'll be a little sore tomorrow. I'm wearing the Zenzah sleeves as I write.

Highlight of the night? When the really fast runners were done and doing their cool down, I got to pass a couple! (So...at least my fast pace was faster than their cool down pace...this, by the way, is not ALWAYS the case with me).

So, thanks to Santiago for pushing me and for being my running partner tonight. We'll see what I'm saying about it tomorrow.

Damn herd for not showing up...

In other running humor, today I recieved this...

To which I say, "Predicted finish time is: 2:20:00? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

That's pretty funny. I have to wonder what I was thinking when I registered and put THAT down as a finish time.

I'll write in a future post about ACTUAL expected finish times, but trust me, it won't be THAT!
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*In the interest of full disclosure. I suck at the planks and could only hold one for about 30 seconds.