Intervals on the Ghetto Track

I ran intervals by myself for the first time ever today. It didn’t go so well. Intervals are pretty much my least favorite thing in the world, so I don’t normally volunteer to do them. My running partner would sneak them in on me a couple times a month, but that was about the extent of my interval training in the past. Of course, they’re going to become a weekly routine for my in my Chicago training. But, I found out last night she couldn’t make today’s inaugural Interval Wednesday celebrations because of injury. So, I was flying solo.

My plan was still to wake up early and head over to Riverbank State Park (and the nicest track in the city) via bus early this morning. That didn’t happen. The insomnia that had been plaguing me the past few nights vanished last night I slept like a log for over 11 hours. I had an insane amount of freelance work to tackle after “normal” work this evening, so knew I couldn’t make it to Riverbank then. That meant there was only one option…

A lunch break run on the track in the projects. In Thomas Jefferson Park, there is this rectangular, odd-distance track next to a playground and surrounding a soccer field. During summer, you often see barbecue grills set up on the track itself. Today, no grills, but I did have plenty over other things to dodge. There were huge groups of little kids milling around in the day care (who kept running along side me Rocky-style) and occasionally hitting me with hula hoops, a gym class that wandered over from the high school and walked two laps of the track as a huddled mass, then a few joggers (who would drift back and forth in between lanes 1 and 6), constant whiffle balls and soccer balls shooting out onto the track from the games on the field, and, finally, another runner who was doing about 7:15/miles the whole time I was out there while dribbling a soccer ball (and bouncing back and forth between lanes). Never again am I running there. Note: I say that every time I run there, yet I always end up coming back because it’s so damn convenient.

The other annoying thing about the track is the distance. I looked at it on Google Earth and it seems to be 0.20 miles on lane 4. But, when I ran today, Guadalupe said I only did 6.55 miles. Then again, when I opened up the map overlay of the run, it was completely crazy (see below). So, I decided to just go with 0.19 miles for each lap (6.65 total). Still, that means that I didn’t do the workout I had meant to do at all. I intended 3 one-mile intervals separated by one-mile recoveries. I ended up doing 3 x 0.95 instead.

That makes the numbers even more depressing. I did the 0.95 mile intervals in 5:37.4, 6:14.7, and 6:21.0. That means paces of 5:55, 6:34, and 6:41/mile. I wasn’t happy with those even when I thought they were full miles. I just didn’t have anything left to push with on the last two. I guess that’s why this whole intervals thing is so important…

Good news is that the Nike Frees held up beautifully. No foot pain at all. (Although I was having some serious trouble with my knee — I think because of the sharp turns x35 laps. I had to switch direction after lap 20 because it was so bad.)

Anyway, moral of the story is, wake up early so you don’t have to run lame-ass intervals on the ghetto track.