Monday, May 2, 2011

First track workout of "season"!

I sometimes put "season" in quotes because my wife will often comment "what season???" She doesn't seem to understand why a 53 year old talks about spring track "season" or cross country "season" when it has been more than 30 years since I finished college and actually participated in real sports "seasons."

Anyway, I hit the track Saturday, the one sunny day we have had in a couple weeks, and did 6 repeat 400s, with about 90 seconds rest between each. I averaged about 81.5 seconds, with the fastest at 79 seconds, and the slowest at about 84.

The interesting part of the workout was meeting a couple runners at the track. I saw a young high schooler doing repeat 200s, so I asked him if he was a middle distance runner. He said he was, and was actually from NYC, visiting his grandmother, and figured he was missing a workout back home, so was conscientious enough to do one. He asked if I still ran, to which I mentioned what I did in college, and that the 1500 meters was probably my best event. He then pointed down the track to his dad, and said his dad ran 3:42 for 1500 in the past, and 4:00 point something for the mile. He likes ribbing his dad for never breaking 4! He also mentioned that his goal was to beat his dad's times, but it was proving harder than he originally though. Of course, he looked like he was only 15 years old or so, so he has some time.

I didn't get a chance to talke to the dad, as I was just starting my quarters, and they were just leaving the track, but they stood and cheered me on during my first 400, which is probably why I ran 79 seconds for that one, when I was targeting 82 (then ran 84 on the next one after they were gone).

You never know what will happen when you head to the track...........you just might run into a 4-minute miler!

Mark

1 comment:

Eric said...

It is fun to chat with people you meet at the track. Over the years I've met people that include the national over 80 men's hurdle champ, and a national class long jumper (26' 9 1/4") that I became good friends with. Once while training in Central Park I spotted (I didn't speak with him). I did have a nice talk with Stu Mittleman, one of the greatest ultradistance runners ever, when I met him at Flushing Meadows Park when we were both working out.