I've always wanted to be in the movies

On Wednesday night we headed up for an alternative track workout since Yorktown was closed. Who knew that by alternative, they meant the Autobots would be in town!

You see, Transformers 3 is filming in DC and as I approached the Lincoln Memorial to do laps around the reflecting pool, I noticed all the people, trucks, wires and lighting. The film crew was in town to film some scenes.

Luckily we were able to run a bit before the film crew told us to get lost.

A few of us ended up running back to toward our offices and then headed home. As I ran along the Mall, past the White House and along Pennsylvania Ave I was again reminded how beautiful this city really is.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

It's a very small world

During my track workout tonight I ended up running with a girl who I had never met and discovered that she also just competed in the Nations Triathlon.

While wrapping up our warm-up, we discovered that we sorta knew each other --- at least knew each other by bike and tri suits.

Apparently, her and I battled back and forth on the bike course passing each other nearly the entire course.

The reason we figured this out was because she said this brown-haired chick in Snapple gear kept passing her and it pissed her off so she would catch up to pass.

I on the other hand remember a girl in a blue tank and matching Trek who kept passing me and I would get pissed off and catch up to pass her.

Ha ha ha!!!

She definitely remembers seeing a number of other girls in Snapple gear. Bonus that as she rolled into the bike transition Beckie and I both passed her. She said it was like she was being swarmed by Snapple!

Needless to say, she's coming to the Club Snapple info session and is super jazzed about it.

She's a biker/runner and her swim time for the Oly was 33 minutes. Of course she told me she swam right next to the buoys and it was basically clear the entire course since everyone else was swimming more to the right. Curses!!!!

Plan B

Well, we did not anticipate the upcoming Jewish holiday interfering with our Wednesday night track practice.

After fighting traffic out of DC and getting to Arlington, a police officer told me that the track was closed due to a high school football game. Ugh! I had fought traffic to get to the track and was dressed and ready to go.

Luckily, the coaches instituted a Plan B that involved running through the very hilly neighborhood and doing "hill repeats."

We started out with two loops through the neighborhood to warm up and then found a long hill that had the added benefit of having a noticeable additional incline at the top. It was a very deceiving hill. It kicked your ass as you neared the top!

We ran the hill a handful of times. It was a challenge, but we all appreciate that it was good for us. Frankly, I prefer the hill training vs. the track. The track sucks!

After we finished the hill runs, we ran back to the track and did leg strengthening exercises. Always fun to exercise in front of groups of folks hanging around a football stadium.

My feel-good moment of the night came when I was running the hills. A fellow runner that I have always considered as quite good (she's an 8-8.5 minute miler) ran with me for the last two hills. As we finished the last hill, she gave me such a great compliment. She said that she has noticed that I have really improved since we first started the 10-miler training. It made me smile to actually have someone appreciate the efforts I have made

Can't we all just get along and co-exist?

Today we hit the track. I'm always curious what the expectation will be and I guess I should not have been surprised by the decision.

• 2 lap warm-up run

• 600 meters (that's a lap and a half) at a faster pace; alternating with a 400 meter (that's a lap) recovery --- try that 6 times.

Our total distance was around 4.5 miles.

My faster pace was pretty consistent --- in the 3:20-3:30 minute range. I was happy we pushed our last set and finished at 3:27 minutes. I'll admit that I was so ready to stop at the fifth set since faster folks were already wrapping up their sixth set, but we decided to try and get the last one in. It was mentally hard, but I'm glad one of my running buddies said "let's just do it!"

I ended up walking the majority of my recovery laps vs jogging them. We were given the option to jog or walk the recovery laps. As you can imagine. --- I chose to walk them! Seriously...the 600 meters was hard...especially when you're just running in a circle. I know --- excuses...excuses.

After our workout, one of the coaches said I really need to jog all the recovery laps instead of walking them. Ugh! Mentally that's gonna be tough. All I can do is give it a try.

We wrapped up our laps with some stretching and group leg strengthening exercises. Who doesn't love a couple wall-sits??!!

As for tonight's entertainment, instead of enjoying the marching band during our run we watching a little JV football scrimmage and mini-Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders (white go-go boots and all) practice. Feels like Fall already.

The one interesting story is that a coach associated with Yorktown High School told our coaches that we aren't allowed to use the track for organized runs without a permit. Hopefully this won't be an issue...and if it is...I hope we can find a new home for track practice.

Apparently the neighborhood and school do not want visitors using their track and there was a deal with the county before construction began to bar the gates from folks like us. Drama!

Band Camp?

Track practice is always an adventure!

I ended up doing 4.7 miles tonight --- combo of the warm ups and sets.

I ended up doing:

• 1 mile warm up
• 10 laps at 70% speed --- with a half a lap recovery between each lap.  

I ended up finding a new running buddy.  She is a bit faster than I am, which is good so that I can't slack off!

That being said, I do think that we could have run faster today, but for the humidity.  It is difficult to gauge what 70% should look like.  I've heard that you should not be able to consistently talk while running at this pace.  I did notice that we were able to still chat at times --- definitely a signal that we probably were slacking off a bit.

The purpose of participating in track practice is to work on your speed.  The goal is to complete each of your laps at the exact speed so that you are maintaining your speed consistently.  We ended up doing our laps pretty consistently --- 2.20-2.26 minutes each lap.

Sadly we lost track of our laps so we either did 10 or 11 laps.  Yet another consequence of my mind going to mush while running!

We wrapped up our workout with additional leg strengthening exercises imposed by Coach Emily.  Not too bad.  Definitely not as brutal as what's imposed by the folks at One-to-One.

Interesting observation of the day ---

Instead of having to dodge soccer balls while running around the track today, we had the pleasure of listening to music.  You see, a marching band (I guess it was the Yorktown High School Band) was practicing on the field.  They were very, very serious! 

The band manager/director was shouting out instructions, suggestions and quite harsh criticisms to the kids.  They must be serious state championship contenders because I recall there was a threat that they would embarrass themselves during an upcoming competition if they didn't get their backward marching just right. 

The best line of the night was something like --- "you oboes need to get in step!"  Who knew that the oboes were such troublemakers!

I definitely enjoyed the comic relief.

Fore?!

I'm just climbing into bed after a night at the track. We wrapped up about 4 miles tonight.

I thought we were going to do the same workout as before, but I was mistaken. Probably better that I was ignorant.

After some stretching and a 400 meter warm up, we started the sets. This time we ran 300 meters at 70% and walked/jogged the remaining 100 meters. We did that 8 times. We finished up with a handful of leg strengthening exercises and a cool-down lap.

Though everyone says the track is good for working on your speed...I find it painfully boring. Running in a loop feels like being a gerbil in a wheel.

Just as before, a smaller running club was also using the track. They were hardcore and their coach was like a little drill Sargent. Yuck. I bet they think we all are the Bad News Bears in comparison.

Our practice also included some unintended agility work. A soccer club was practicing on the field that our track circled and some of their shots on goal went astray. The workout is hard enough without having to worry about a stray ball crossing your path!

Bummer!

Track practice was canceled today due to bad weather.

I was all dressed and ready to roll when I got the email.

Oh well. Good thing I already got my 7 miles in for the week earlier in the week!

Just like high school

Tonight was my first night at track practice.

Track practice?? Seriously???

I have horrible memories of life at school...struggling...running around that miserable track. I was thankful that this evening was a bit better.

A big group from the DC Road Runners arrived at the Yorktown High School track for an evening of speed work.

We began with a warm-up --- a 400 meter jog. After my recent runs...400 meters should not have been a problem, but it was a hard 400. I was tired after recent runs and Monday at the gym. I was really not feeling good about what I was about to do and would have gladly ended the evening early if I was able to make up a good excuse and roll out early.

After the warm-up and some stretching, we broke into heats based on estimated mile pace groups. Since I had no idea where I should be slotted and I was terrified by what we were about to do, I slotted myself into the 11 minute+ group.

Our goal was to run 200 meters at a steady and fast pace (a range of 7 or 8 out of 10). The goal was to run each of these fast segments at the same speed --- the first and last should be the exact same speed and time.

The remaining 200 meters was to be done at a slower pace. I expected the slower pace to be a fast walk...but it actually was a slow jog! The slow jog was an effort. Mentally, it was hard to stay with it, but being with the group definitely helps to keep you going.

I ended up getting into a groove and was able to complete each of the faster 8 segments in 1:13 minutes. Not too bad for the first time. We ended up running 2.5 miles tonight in total...which in the scheme of things is not that far, but the faster pace really had an impact!

I was very tired and was looking forward to a nice stretch and some water once I rounded the finish line after the eighth segment!! Unfortunately, Coach Emily had something else in mind...more strength training. We ended up doing a number of body weight exercises to help strengthen our legs.

Everyone says that participating in the track work is critical to increasing your speed.

By the time Coach Katie dropped me off at the metro and I got home it was close to 10:00 pm. I was so tired!!!

Hopefully I can keep up with all of this without getting injured. I plan to take the next two days off since I have basically reached my weekly running goal in advance of Saturday's long run.