Running from Zombies

The July edition of Runner’s World magazine ran an article on using the athletics track, aimed at runners that haven’t used it before. I think I looked at the pictures and then carried on with the rest of the magazine.

The last time I ever ran on a track was over 8 years ago when I was forced into one lap as a warm up for my event at inter-school athletics meets (I did the high jump for a few weeks a year in secondary school). It was usually at least 30 minutes between the warm up and the start so it really had no benefit other than to aggravate my asthma and stain the undersides of my trainers red. I would then sit down inside the oval and watch the other high jump competitors get ready.

Having never really been into sports I would find it quite fascinating. A large proportion of them would be wearing Lycra or some sort of technical clothing (tighter is better for getting over the bar) and sporting expensive looking track spikes. A couple would have coaches there with them, guiding them through intricate stretches and providing electrical tape for marking out where they should start their approach. On the flip side, I would be sitting on the floor in my PE kit and rather grubby trainers quite perplexed at why anyone would take it so seriously and just thankful I got out of my last class of the day. So when Ally proposed that I join him at the track one day I was instantly filled with images of super fast sprinters in ridiculously tight clothing, either tutting at my poor track etiquette (trackiquette?) or stiffling laughs at my attempts to run fast. I am so glad that I was wrong.

Yesterday I was introduced to Wyndley Leisure Centre’s athletics track. It’s modest as tracks go, having almost gotten used to the huge stadium that hosted the county school athletics, it was nice to be on something smaller. Thankfully we were the only two using the track at the time, which meant I didn’t have to think about my trackiquette and looking like a complete n00b.

Ally had decided that we were going to do an interval session, which makes sense because the track allows for some speed and I really need to get my legs used to going at a faster pace. We started off with an 800m warm up and then did 2 minutes off to 1 minute on (~9km/h and 12km/h respectively, or 6’40″ and 5’00″ pace). We had a break at the 3.2km mark and Ally suggested I tried 200m off to 400m on for the next 3km. I failed at the first ‘on’, my asthma kicking in just after 200m, so I stepped it down to 200m/300m instead.

The rest of the session went pretty well. We stopped for another quick break and then I decided I wanted to try some sprints. I did the straight 100m and then a 300m recovery jog. I had forgotten how much fun sprinting is! I usually try to pick it up for the last few hundred meters of any long run but it’s uphill to my house and I rarely have the energy to get anywhere. But really giving it everything you’ve got, to go as fast as you can and not worry about pacing or saving any energy for later on was great. According to Charlie I got up to 21.2km/h :-) So my experience of the track was good, and now I can’t wait to try it again!