Okay, bear with me whilst you listen to the old fart whine, piss and moan about my track workout this morning. The good news is that I did it, the bad news was that it didn’t resemble a whole lot, what I had scheduled.

It was a pretty view this morning from the top of the hill looking out over the Kennebec River Valley to the hill beyond.

Let’s back up my whining for a minute and think things through about this morning.

• First Bennie walk – check
• Second Bennie walk – check
• Go get steel wagon wheels for Mary’s Mother’s Day present – don’t worry – it ain’t much of surprise – check
• Get mounting hardware at Abuchons – check
• Get a brilliant idea about going over to go run on Colby’s track – errr WTFO you haven’t run all that fast outside this year and planned on doing your speed work on the comfort of the treadmill Harold. What orifice did that idea come out of?

I had been thinking about doing my speed work session outside today for a couple of days, although I had really planned on either the Benton Trail or the Rail Trail in Augusta, both of which have markers every quarter mile. It would have been easing into speed work outside and not have the pressure that put on myself whenever I do a formal track workout.

However, while I was riding over to the Fairfield Antiques Mall, I got to thinking that I really wanted to try out the Zoom Flys on the track to see how they were.

So after picking up the steel wagon wheels at a nice discount, I headed over to Colby.

Today’s workout called for 6 x .50 at 5K race pace, with .25 recoveries with a mile warm-up and cool-down.

Okay here is what I actually did:

• 1.40 warm-up – I needed to use the gym for a few minutes – yeah potty break time.
• 1.0-mile time trial at 80-90% effort, with 400 recovery
• 2 x 800, with 400 recoveries
• 4 x 400, with 400 recoveries
• 800 – recovery

About the only thing I got close to correct was the .25/400 recovery laps. Doing that mile half arsed time trial seemed to take way too much out of me compared to how it should have at the pace I finished. The 800s just felt way too hard for the pace, so I stepped it down to quarters after only two completed. The 400s felt pretty good, but I certainly didn’t push all that hard and could have done better.

That is the thing with running circles around a track, there is no hiding from the distance/times you run. They are, exactly what they are.

Oh well, shit happens and I will get better – as LONG AS I DO THE WORK.

What did I accomplish?

Actually, I accomplished a lot when I look back at what I did run on the track this morning and figured out a few things today that I had been wondering about:

1. I didn’t injure anything, which was a big deal! The track and I have a history of taking out hamstrings, calves and Achilles tendons, so that is a positive sign to run faster than usual and still have those none the worse for wear.
2. I am slower outside mostly because I have to focus on running fast and maintaining the pace, whereas on the treadmill it is more of only having to keep moving the legs to keep up to the motor. On the track, you are the motor.
3. That running outside is very different from running on the treadmill – when did you figure that out, Harold??? About the first time, I came around turn 3 and 4 and the gentle breeze tugged ever so caressingly at my t-shirt. Yeah, while it wasn’t a gale force wind, it was enough that I worked a little harder from that point to the end of the lap on each lap.
4. Running on the treadmill has helped with my fitness, but the efficient treadmill stride that I have developed is different than the stride I need to run efficiently outside, especially when I am running faster. That gotta lean a little goes a long way outside and all it accomplishes on the treadmill is bouncing my hands off the heart-rate monitor bar.
5. The Zoom Flys were very comfortable until the 5th mile. Then the bottoms of my feet seemed to “heat up” a little. I did notice their extra cushioning a lot more than I have in other shoes that I usually run in on the track and will probably dig out a pair of Adidas Adios 3’s or even my Reebok RunFasts next track session to see if there is a difference in how I run on the track in them versus the Zoom Flys.
6. 
7. I am thinking that the Zoom Fly v1 is more of a fast trainer or longer distance (than I usually race) than an actual 5K to 10K racing shoe for me. They felt very soft on the track and I think that v2 might be more of a racer for me than v1, with its carbon plate and React midsole.
8. The worst thing that I noticed about the Zoom Flys today was that the shoelaces were too damn long. They kept whipping against the inside of the other leg and were a distraction that I did not need while I was attempting to run faster than usual.

The reality is that

Running on the track is something that I need to make a regular part of my weekly routine and add in a mile time trial about once a month.

I actually like running in circles and it brings me back to a different time and place in my running. Not that I am all that fast or anything, but there is a certain amount of self-discipline that is necessary to run fast and hit the paces that I want on a track that I do not get otherwise.

There is an also the matter of accountability when running on a track, you know the times you are supposed to hit for the pace you want run. There is no fudge factoring, no motors to assist you and you can’t just zone out, at least I can’t. I have to focus on my stride and form in order to run the laps well.

For me, even as old as I am, when I step on the track, it is time to get serious and while I can’t keep up with the “Big Boys and Girls” anymore, I do run faster than I would otherwise. Now I just have to be willing to dip into the hurt locker every so often and not sound or look like a dying fish sucking for oxygen at the end of a hard lap or two.

Big goal by the end of the summer a sub 6:00 minute time trial. I know that I have the speed to do it, now to work on the stamina part. Definitely, something to shoot for and will require a lot of hard work on my part.