hit bush park when it was still dark, really dark. especially through the trees. i was surprised to see how many other people were running. my times suffered a bit for the first part of my warm up because i couldn't really see where my feet were landing. this slowed me down.
at the top of the hill i hit the bathroom. the guy next to me in the stall was making weird grunting pushing sounds. i was glad when he left.
when i got out of the bathroom it was much lighter. i reset my watch and hit the other half of the warm up right on. by then we where well into morning and it was heating up. stripped down to my singlet and just one pair of gloves and made my way to the track where a group of psuedo-pilates style middle aged women where hogging lanes 2-8. at least i had lane 1.
i've already talked about how i feel about 1000m repeats. this is my third week in a row that i've done them. i felt like i had much more control and my times reflect that. but it was still effort. intense effort. even that first one. this scarred me. can't i even get through one 1000m easily? it's odd how much of running is a mind game. one intense 1000m run and i start to doubt why i'm up this early, why i'm trying to do something with this hobby, why i'm pushing for the olympic trials. the second one wasn't much better. but hope came in the shape of the third one and and the fourth one. that fourth one seemed effortless. i was just flowing, always two seconds under time. i cruised in with ease.
and then came the last one. the hardest of the lot by a billion. by the first lap i was slow by a second. i tried to hit the next 200m harder but made no ground. the air was getting warmer but just in sections. the track had become like a swimming pool, little pockets of cold and warm air dotted about at random. i hit the 800m right on. but at this point there was a head wind shooting right at me going into the 400m and 800m. it was so hard to push into it. i felt like a giant sail being blown backwards by the wind. i tried to think about the wind just cooling me off (a trick someone told me about on a 10k i raced last spring). this helped little. that last 200m was pure misery. especially that curve. it felt like i was pushing 5x harder but going 5x slower. then i hit the straight. that last 100m was just steam. it was as though the last two weeks was pressing down on my shoulders, legs, arms, pushing me back towards the beginning. somehow i pushed through. i played different songs in my head. i told myself that it was just pain. then a new pain came. my upper abs violently contracting as though preparing to vomit. and then just before it was over, one stride away, i let out a cry.
and then it was over. and i'm smiling. and i'm taking off my track shoes. and i'm doing my warm up. and i'm driving home. and i'm drinking water. and i'm feeling the utter euphoria of runner's high coupled with another workout done.
times: 3:08:90, 3:10:78, 3:08:97, 3:09:15, 3:09:50
on a completely different topic and should perhaps be a different note entirely . . . yesterday at church i met a personal trainer. he loves his job and he loves to help people realize their fitness goals. that's why he doesn't want to move into management yet at the club. he doesn't want to be that far removed from the people who need him. i found this to be a refreshing outlook. i asked him if he could give me a few exercises that target the sides. he started explaining one. it became complicated. i think i'm more of a kinesthetic learner. we moved to the south auditorium now mostly empty. i laid on my back. he explained while moving my legs and spotting me. i can tell he is good at his job. he showed me three different exercises that i tried last night. i could actually feel the burn.
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