I have kind of a weird relationship with track workouts in that I LOVE them--like, *soooo* much--but I have a lot of trouble remembering and mustering that love on days when I have one scheduled. I think part of this is just because driving out to Kezar Stadium just seems more involved that throwing on running clothes & heading out my front door. Once I'm out there and done with my warm up, though (not during; I hate warming up), I remember how awesome track workouts are and how great I feel after. If you're kind of meh on speed work, please come to the track with me sometime. I will help you love it (or at least hate it less) and that is a promise. Today I was doing mile repeats at 10K pace, which I totally {heart}.
While I was out there, I had Thoughts and Observations and Musings. Intervals are good for that. I now present them to you in no particular order.
1. San Francisco has got to be one of the weirdest places to live in the summer. Not only because you can be shivering in icy/foggy drizzle in the middle of July, but because you can be doing so when only three miles away it is sunny and beautiful. Today Mission = sunny & reasonably warmish; Kezar Stadium = icy cold/biting wind/sideways rain. I had warmer clothes in my bag & changed into a long sleeve shirt right away. I thought about changing into tights, but that would've required trekking up to the bathrooms & I figured I'd warm up once I got started. I deeply regretted this decision later.
2. My easy two warm up miles when running on roads tend to be in the 9:00-9:30 range. On the track, they are always wicked fast with what feels like the same level of effort (8:14 & 7:57 today).
3. San Francisco has a lot of runners. Specifically, a lot of runners who like to come to the track. On Tuesday nights. (Being able to go during the day for the last couple of years has spoiled me in that regard.) Did you ever go to old school skating rinks when you were a kid, where everybody went around and around in a circle? It was kind of like that, but without the hawt 80s music & disco ball.
4. Some people need to learn the meaning of "public track." I'm looking at you, hurdles coach yelling at pretty much everyone but his three svelte-looking man-children in tiny shorts, "Joggers stay on the grass!" Never mind that SF Parks & Rec will actually ticket you for being on the grass. I've seen this happen.
5. Sometimes I really don't understand my body and its response to training (or lack thereof). I wasn't expecting to actually be able to run at 10K pace for four repeats and also stay at the right effort level right now, but I figured if I could stay under 7:15, that would be good. In the first one, my body kind of said, "The hell with that!" and I ran it in 7:09 without even breathing hard. I tried slowing down a little on the next one but finally had to admit that I needed to work harder, so in the end #2 was 7:10. After that I ignored pace altogether & just went by effort. #3 was 7:01 (!). Halfway through #4 it started to take a little more effort to stay in the 7:0x's, so that one was 7:07, but still. I felt great afterward, almost like I hadn't even run. Next time I'll definitely move back up to 10:00 repeats instead of miles or add more intervals.
6. I am all for local running clubs / teams / groups getting their speed on at the track, but it is totally NOT OKAY to spread your circle of stretching love across half the lanes. Seriously. There are so many other areas they could use for this where people are not trying to run. I wouldn't even begrudge them making a smooshed kind of oval & spilling only into the last two lanes.
7. Also, if your running group is like 40 people, maybe you don't have them warm up with strides in all eight lanes, in the wrong direction, while there about 40 other people on the track. At least 14 high-speed head-on collisions were narrowly avoided. All I could think was, "Is this seriously happening!?!?" There were clearly Leaders who were In Charge, none of whom seemed to understand how tracks work. Not cool. Not cool at all.
8. I'm still trying to decide what I think about these shoes. I've had them for a while, actually, but haven't run in them all that much for reasons I'll explain in another post. Eventually I'll review them, but I try to wait until I know a pair of shoes pretty well & have given them a solid chance before I do that. Right now there are things I like about them and also things I'm trying to decide if I can get to like about them.
9. Children should not play soccer on or near the track. That is just a fact. A friend of mine in high school tripped on a volleyball & had to have reconstructive knee surgery as a result. That is all I can think about every time I see soccer balls at the track.
10. I love the track. I should really, really go there more often. :)
That is crazy so many people are at the track. We have several close to my house and sometimes I am the only one there. Spokane has a ton of runners too. Maybe I just go at a weird time? I like the shoes! Are they the Pure Cadence? Let me know what you think of them.
ReplyDeleteThey're the Pure Connects (same line but the neutral version). I love how light they are & the glove-like fit! They're kind of narrow, though, & my feet kind of aren't. :P
DeleteI can totally relate to the whole "it's a huge pain to get to the track" thing. My closest track is 2+ miles up moderately steep hill, which, if I was less of a wuss, would be totally doable as a warm-up. And something about driving there seems even less desirable.
ReplyDeleteThe crowds would drive me crazy too. Maybe you should make up some new "track rules" and post them as if they're official. You'd be doing everyone a favor. :)
Seriously! There should be some kind of Track Monitor. Like a hall monitor but for track rules.
DeleteKezar is just far enough from me that going by foot makes for a really long warm-up / cool down. I used to run to my track workouts & back during marathon training, but it's kind of a lot of extra mileage (and time)otherwise.
Haha - my club (SFRRC) does track workouts on Tuesday (note: I am never there. Running fast is horrible). But I know exactly what you mean...my group in particular could use a lesson or two on etiquette.
ReplyDeleteLol....I wondered if it was a bigger name group I might know! There is a big area that's the same surface as the track but isn't in the lanes, so I kind of wondered why they didn't use that part. Ah well. (BTW, I just saw your last couple of comments -- for some reason they've been getting routed into my spam folder!)
DeleteYou always have the best posts, haha.
ReplyDelete#1 is definitely applicable, but I bet running in the summer in SF is perfect because it isn't super hot! It is like 90-95 in the south bay right now, not fun.
#9 - I see what you mean, but I guess as long as they aren't super close to the edge is about all you can do. For me people doing discus right near the track freaks me out!
#1 - Sometimes it is. There are days when I'm VERY glad I live here & not on the peninsula. I get really bitter sometimes, though, about the bitter cold wind / drizzle in July.
Delete#9 - Oh no! These children are actively kicking the ball *across* the track. Probably a discus would freak me out more, but still.
I'm biased, I know, but I think the Peninsula weather is pretty much perfect. But it is SO windy!!
ReplyDeleteI've never run on a track. Never ever. I can't decide if I fancy it or not. Isn't it boring?
I would *definitely* not recommend running on a track just to get miles in -- it gets boring really fast if you're just going in circles at a constant speed for miles and miles. I mostly like to run fast intervals there because it's a more reliable & forgiving surface, plus you don't have to worry about crossing streets or dodging pedestrians. :)
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