One of the things that was desperately missing from my training program last year was some programmed speed work for running. All I basically did all year was ratchet up my distances, until I could run a half marathon. As a result of not doing speed work, I didn’t get any faster. You’d think that’d be obvious, but I didn’t realize it until late in the season.
So a few months back, on a whim, I headed over to the indoor track at Wright State to work out with the 5Rivers Running Team. It’s a local running club headed up by a former nationally competitive runner, a sports physiologist from the University of Dayton, and some other very fast, very knowledgeable coaches. I was blown away, the very first time I went, at what an amazing experience it was. For the record, I’m pretty slow. And 8:30 mile is a really good day for me, and a lot of the guys in this club are deep into the 6s. But despite me huffing and puffing along, everybody was really positive, really encouraging, and it ended up being way more fun than I had expected.
We run intervals on a program every time we meet, and I can really feel myself getting faster, and increasing my efficiency, every time I’m there. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to start going twice a week!
[…] coach and a group of like-minded people at a running club make fast feel easy. A stranger with a sign on the side of the road cheers you on, giving you just […]