Thursday, June 10, 2010

Third Track Workout - 5/26/10 - 5.75 miles 01:08:13

This had to be the most miserable running experience I've ever had.  There was just nothing good about this workout.  I felt like our pace leader was moving way too fast, my Garmin agreed.  It was insanely hot, so far this summer has been much hotter and more humid than I remember it ever being in May, and I just couldn't keep up.  I always tend to run a little slower in the evenings but this was just a struggle the entire way through.  A friend and I gave up on trying to keep with the group, there was just no point.  We ran the first "warm-up" mile in 11:02, then we did an 11:30 and 11:38.  Wait, aren't we the 12:30 pace group?  My friend and I slowed down for the rest of the run, even with our slower miles we averaged under 12 minutes.

I truly questioned my ability to keep up with the group and the program after this workout, and my desire to do so.  I was hot, I was dizzy, I was miserable and demoralized.  We completed the run on our own, we did just as many miles as everyone else so there was really no reason to be down on ourselves but when you feel like you can't even keep up with your own slow pace it can be a bit depressing.  The worst part about it was that the pace leader insisted he was keeping the 12:30 pace the entire time, we were just having bad runs.  He didn't wear a Garmin but he did have a watch, assuming he was keeping track of total time you can do the math and calculate the pace yourself.  It's not like we were running on trails and roads (except for the warm-up and cool-down), we were on a track of a standard and known length.  It would be one thing if we were being pushed on purpose, but being misled is another. 

At the end of the run the group leader said to us "Don't feel bad about it, everybody has bad runs."  My friend said, "Hell no I don't feel bad, we did the same thing everybody else did."  I tried to keep that in mind as I drove back home because she was right.  We may have taken a little longer and bitched a little louder but we made it.

No comments:

Post a Comment