Wow! Where has the time gone?! Here I was thinking I would try and get a new post out eery two weeks, and life has decided to get in the way. Well, spring break has fallen into my lap and I’m back at it, beer in hand, and ready to write!
Most of my readers know me as a hard-core distance runner, but if they had met me in college or high school, they would have known a very different Theresa: Sprinter Theresa! I actually decided to try a marathon after college because it was a bucket-list item that I needed to check off, and I knew of a few other people training for one. It was at that point in my training, having just come off from four years of college running, that I dropped speed work completely. I also dropped any sort of cross-training, stretching, and drill workouts that I had been accustomed to, and decided I was just going to RUN. It was different, it was easy, and even though I was running more miles, I somehow still had so much time on my hands!
It was about two years later that I decided to try doing some speed work again, half-well knowing that I wasn’t going to keep getting faster just by running (it’s true!). I finally bit the bullet and went out for my first track workout. I remember it well--400 repeats were recommended to me by a friend and local elite coach. I took my foot to the start line and took off. I managed one-90 second 400 (6 min/mile pace) and almost threw up. A did a couple more and then I was done. This was a feeling I had not experienced since I started running in high school. What the heck? Back to regular old running I went.
Thinking back on that workout, I remember a lot of questions going through my head, like “where did my speed go?” and “I’m a marathoner, don’t miles=speed?” Well, the short answer is “no”. It wasn’t until I joined Team Red Lizard that I got back into a habit of doing workouts on weekly basis again, and I’ll tell you, it made a world of difference in my training. I was back on the wagon, and I was even adding drills and weights to my routine. There is something about speed work that makes you feel fit, strong, and tuned into your body all at same time.
After I missed the marathon trials standard, I decided it was time to set some new goals, and getting my feet back on the track competitively was one of them. I made a pact with myself to take a good two years off from running marathons, so that meant it was time to write some goals down otherwise I would get lost in life.
Back in February I decided to run my first track race since college at the Nike House of Track. I was fortunate enough to be ready to sign up for the last race of the series, where I would be lacing up for a 1500m race (just shy of a mile). I had been doing some shorter speed work and lower mileage, so I really had no expectations for this race. All I knew was that I was not going to take the lead. Well, we all know how that tends to go…the gun went off, and for what felt like seconds, no one moved. I instantly went with my intuition and took the lead, running a 33 second first 200 (4:24 min/mile pace). Oops. It was after that first lap that my legs knew what I had done; I needed to run 6.5 more laps and I had just saturated my legs with lactic acid. For the next three laps, all I could do was smile the biggest smile I have ever raced with, knowing good and well of what I had just done, and push through the pain, hoping to at least finish the race without getting dead last. Fortunately my legs bounced back, the lactic acid subsided and I was able to finish strong, just six seconds off of my college PR (and 3rd place in my heat). I was really happy with how the race turned out, given the circumstances, and I was very excited about what it indicated for my track season to come.
Running the 1500m on the track, although uncomfortable and painful, brought back a lot of energy that I hadn’t felt in a long time. It was that day that I decided it was time to set a new goal: set a 5k mark and work to get it as close to the Olympic Trials 5k Qualifying Standard as possible.
This past weekend, I took the first step in my goal and ran my first 5k on the track to gauge my fitness level. I was excited to run a time of 17:23, and will work toward 15:25 cautiously and with patience. Track and Field is different from the Marathon in that T&F Olympic Trials take place in the summer right before the Olympics. That being said, with a little less than 4 months to train, and many races to choose from, I definitely have some time to challenge myself and go for my goal! It’s lofty, I know, but as I always say “you can’t reach a goal if you don’t set one!”