Welcome Back Party

Over the past three months, my life has not really been lacking in parties.

Or tracks.

Or other people’s track parties.

But when it comes to my own track party miles logged around that rubbery goodness, I get a big fat goose egg.

The last time I sprinted my ass off at the track was April 29th, 2012, approximately 11:07 am Pacific Time.

It was not just a track party, it was a track rager.

But since then, I’ve spent week after week, declaring “THIS will be the week I return to the track.” And week after week goes by with absolutely no change in that goose egg track mileage.

But with marathon season around the corner, and a daily feeling of being haunted by the realization that I’ve done little to no speed work in months, I went to bed last night determined to proceed immediately from my 5 rounds of alarm snoozing to the track.

And I did! And it was great. And of course it was great. Every time I finally get my ass back to the track after a hiatus of any length, I immediately regret any time that I’ve spent away and do some laps of gratitude, thanking my beloved track for showing me such a good time, yet again.

This morning, because I wanted to ease back into the track thing, I came up with a gentle workout, of intervals that totaled ~3 miles of speed work, which is around the minimum amount of mileage I deem worthy of track time.

1 X 800 (400m rest)

3x 400 descending (200m rest)

Repeat all of the above

4 x 200 (200m rest)

I knew going into this workout that my times were going to be pretty much not at all the same as the times I was hitting leading up to Eugene. It’s been too long. I’ve done nothing to help with the whole running fast thing. And I ran 18 miles yesterday through a 12 mile run in the am and a 6 mile run in the pm, both at an average of what I am pretending is my ultra marathon goal pace. So my legs were not exactly fresh this am.

A Welcome Back Track Party is best thrown as a BYOmentalpreparednesstobeslow.

My first 800 interval clocked in at 3:00 flat. Not quite as terrible as I’d been envisioning. But between my lack of breath, and the fact that I could already wring a pint glass of sweat out of my rogas, it was pretty clear that the interval was not anywhere near effortless.

Next up: 3 x 400s descending. I like descending sets on the track because I like to beat things: PRs, people, goal times, cake batter (do you beat cake batter? I wouldn’t actually know because I don’t exactly have an oven. And even if I did, pretty confident I would never back anything, let alone a cake.)

My first 400: 1:27

Next: 1:26 and holy shit I was dying, but I was also determined to make the last one faster.

3rd up, compliments of willing my legs to “MOVE FASTER OR DIE TRYING” 1:24

As I did a full lap of recovery between sets, I reflected on just how fucked I was for the next round of intervals. With 18 miles from yesterday weighing down my legs, and a very noticeable 3 months away from the track, I was pretty confident I’d gone out too hard.

Second set, 800: 3:02

As I rounded the last corner and pressed the lap button as I crossed the line, I thought “yup. too fast on the first set. nice work, Sweaty, NOT.”

It’s rare for me to finish slower than I start in a workout. See: aforementioned love for beating my own times. I get all runners high on getting stronger during a run, especially as my legs get fatigued as shit.

While tempted to let the slower 800 defeat me and end my workout with a slow jog home in which I plotted ways to lie about how OMG great my track workout went, I obviously did not do that. I gave my quads a little lecture, stared down my hokas, mentally kicked my own ass and set out to nail my last set of 400s.

First: 1:27

Second: 1:25

Last (fueled by the knowledge that it was THANK GOD my last long interval of the day): 1:23

I ended the workout with 4x200s to simulate some finish line sprinting action and warmed down for a few miles while I secretly clocked some boys doing 800 repeats like the total creeper I am.

Arrived back home with a workout total of 10 miles for the morning and a request submitted for a VIP spot on the invite list for the rest of the track parties for the season.