Track Report

My knees are responding well to my treatment of stretching, leg lifts, foam roller and ice. I am still not without some discomfort especially after sitting at work for hours but I am turning the corner. In fact, last Sunday I ran 9 miles and felt pretty good overall. And then on Tuesday, I went to track practice which I had not been to in two weeks due to my knee issues.

Track was great. We ran our 1 mile warm up and then we ran a 1200 followed by a faster 800 followed by a broken 800 (200 fast, 200 recovery, 200 fast, 200 recovery). Then when we were done with that, the coach said that we would be doing 1 mile as fast as we could. For me, she said she wanted me to run a 6 minute mile.

I am sure I have never done a 6 minute mile. I have gotten up to that speed for very short distances but never for a full mile. I was skeptical that I would be able to manage that pace for 4 laps around the track but I said I would try. After 2 laps, I was on track to reach the goal but my breathing was extremely labored and I was struggling to maintain my pace. At around 1000 meters I started thinking about throwing in the towel and just jogging the rest. I often feel this way in races. Despite all my training and my fitness, I start to wonder why I am trying so hard and doubt my abilities. But I can usually push through these moments and at the end of the race, I am super stoked that I gave it my all.

After my brief lapse into doubt, I started to catch up to some of my other teammates who were running slightly slower than me. For me, passing people on the track is a great motivator. As I passed people, I was able to pick things up and know that I could go hard until the end. And after that, I had one more lap to go. I was still struggling and sucking wind. I think I must have sounded like an hyena and I sort of wondered what my teammates must have thought. I gave it my all and in the end was very close to meeting my goal. I had managed a 6:05. I was pretty happy about that.

After everyone finished up and I ran a cool down lap, I told my coach what I had accomplished at last year's Monument Avenue 10K and how I had trained. She told me that if she could run a 40 minute 10K that I could beat 40 minutes. My initial thoughts were "no way." After all, she is an accomplished pro triathlete who won Ironman Canada in 2005. My experience is soccer, not road racing.

I put the idea in the back of my mind but after getting home, I started thinking, "could I really run a 40?" That would be 3 minutes faster than my last year's PR. That is a significant difference in a 10K race. I am going to have to follow up with coach K and see if she really thinks I can pull that off and what it is going to take to get there. For now, I am excited about the possibility and it has given me new motivation to fix my knees.