Eating Someone's Dust (Again)

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I returned to my track club's Tuesday night workouts after a month's absence, and boy did it show. Our workouts consist of three parts:

  • Hill training (through mid-Sept)

  • Strides

  • Core exercises


    • I really enjoyed tonight's workout, so I thought I'd share it with those trying to improve their time on shorter distances, especially if your upcoming race is on trails, as mine is. We ran along the dirt Bridal Path in Balboa Park, which consists of small hills bordered by freeway on one side and "nature" on the other. The workout consisted of running at 5k pace for 3 minutes, immediately followed by 2 minutes of recovery. Soon as we hit the five-minute mark, we start all over again. We did this six times.

    I picked a bad day to forget my stopwatch, so I had no choice but to follow the pace of people in front of me, many of whom seemed to not go that much slower in recovery mode. By the fourth repeat I was wheezing; by the sixth, I couldn't remember my name. But I managed to finish and to do 10 of the 12 strides before the bathroom beckoned.

    What I noticed more than my laborous breathing and lack of speed was how much stronger some women were compared to just a month ago. Consistency in training really does make a difference. I see that now. I will feel it tomorrow too.

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