Sometimes you just smile at the end of a workout, even though I didn’t hit the paces that I expected to, but the workout was a new one for me. Plus I learned about which shoe are my “go faster”, without any doubt.

Actually it was a gorgeous Fall day, where Bennie and I got to enjoy our walk first thing this morning and then a 2.0 mile walk a little later. It was just a day to enjoy being outside.

So I was looking forward to a good track workout.

Planned Workout Description: I planned on 1.0 mile warm-up, 1.0 mile time trial, 8×400 with 1.0 mile cool-down. I wanted to stay under 7:00 minute pace for the faster stuff.

• Day: Tuesday
• Time: 10:59a
• Course: Colby Alfond Track
• Distance – Impulse: 2.0
• Time of Run: 16:01
• Pace: 8:01
• Distance – Zoom Fly SP: 5.25
• Time of run 42:39
• Pace: 8:07
• Rating (1-4): 2
• Running Streak Day #: 4
• Weather: Clear, 61*F, Humidity 63%, Wind 5-10 mph NW

Variables that impacted the run: A bit windier than the weather app indicated on the back stretch (as usual). Otherwise I felt pretty good.

Comments: Here is the actual workout:

Yes, even though I use my Garmin during track workouts, I still use the paper method to keep track of my repeats – I find it more accurate and it works for me.

As you can see I ran my warm-up and 1.0 mile time trial using my Altra Impulse. I just never was able to get up on my forefoot to get a faster pace going in the Impulse today. It didn’t help that there was a bit more of a breeze than I wanted to run fast against, but you gotta run the conditions and smile. Even so, I just wasn’t happy with how I was feeling running in the Impulse today, so I decided to switch them out.

As soon as I switched out to the Zoom Fly SP and started running it was like night and day as far as the feeling of wanting to run faster versus yeah, I can do this.

Although I was a bit disappointed with the 7:23 time for the next mile, it felt faster to me than the first one. I guess I relaxed too much running into the breeze on the back stretch each time (especially on the first lap when the breeze was a bit higher).

After that mile, I decided to move to running .25 repeats, I was pretty sure that another mile repeat was not going to be pretty and probably counterproductive to my confidence.

The first .25 interval was the best quarter I have run on the Colby Track in several years. After that disappointing mile time, I pushed myself to maintain a hard effort all the way around, so now I know that I can do it, but unfortunately I did not keep up the same level of focus or effort on the next 5 repeats.

I can’t say that I was really happy with the paces I was hitting during this session – they were much slower than I wanted. However, some days you have it and others you don’t – today I didn’t. The good news is that I still ran faster than my fastest 5K race pace over the past 5 years, so that is encouraging.

How did this run move me towards my goal(s)? It is difficult doing hard repeats by yourself on the track, but it does develop mental toughness. I did show myself that when I focused and dug into the well – like I did on the first and last quarters that I can run well.

• Shoes Worn: Altra Impulse & Nike Zoom Fly SP

Initially I wanted to see how the Impulse did on the track after last weekend’s very good run, but after the 1.0 mile time trial, I decided to change back to my Zoom Fly SP. Even though the next mile was 7 seconds slower, I felt faster and that the shoes had more snap.

In the ZF SP, I just felt like I wanted to run faster and picked up the pace easily when I wanted to. In the Impuse I felt like I could run faster, but I had to maintain my focus much more in order to keep running faster.

So I figured out that I really prefer to run faster in my Nike Zoom Fly SP and that the Altra Impulse are more for tempo or fartlek runs outside or treadmill stuff, where I want a change of pace shoe to run faster in.

Cardio (walking, elliptical, bike, mowing, etc.) Total: 3.97

Weight: 156

Non Running Comments: After I got done running, I was be popping around the track for a walking cool-down, while listening to some pretty good music and was off in my own little world. When I came around the back stretch I noticed a lady grabbing a chair from the infield and another lady up by the entrance on the ground.

She appeared to be in distress, so I went over to see if I could help or call 9-1-1. Let’s just say she was morbidly obese and wasn’t too thrilled about a man offering to help her. She made that very clear, so I backed-off and respected her wishes.

After that I did what I could, because the other lady that was with her seemed to want me to help. Under no circumstances did the lady on the ground want me to touch her, so I held the chair in place, so she would have something to grab onto. Then she painfully levered herself up the chair to a standing position.

I did stick around to make sure that she was safe and not in need of further assistance, until she got in the car. The lady she was with was attempting to get her to go to the hospital to have her leg looked at. I left at that point, I would have only been a distraction to the lady who was hurt and didn’t want me around anyway.

I am fairly astute about some of the possible reasons for her reactions to my only wanting to help, so I did not take what she said or did personally. I worked for many years with teens with difficult backgrounds, so I didn’t judge her actions with as much negativity or WTFO as some others might have.

I just hope she is getting the help she needs to move forward. The fact that she was at the track to walk a lap indicates to me that might be the case.