Cutting Shapes for the Tracksters

Time: ~60:30
Distance: ~9 miles
W/u: 24:23 for ~3 miles
W/o: 16 x 400 in 68-70 secs. with 1 min. rest. Hammer #'s 12 and 15.
C/d: 18:04 for ~2 miles

Scotty and I both got off work around 3 pm and he was at OK Runner a few minutes later to pick me up. We headed over to the Norman High track for our respective workouts. He was doing something a bit more at tempo effort while I was going to cut some shapes. On the drive over I check to see when the last time I did some serious shape cutting. The most recent time was in October of 2008 where I ran 6 x 400 with some 200s. I also found that I kinda did 16 x 400 a little over a year ago.

Scotty and I warmed up to the GT for a few 800m loops and then ran back to the track. The high schoolers were just finishing and the middle schoolers had just arrived. Coach Scott Minard is trying to produce some decent talent in Norman with a middle school program and I respect the fact that roughly 80 kids were in attendance. They were doing drills but mainly flirting. I could understand why, who wants to run in 80 degree weather? I do. The hot was awesome.

I laced up the LunarRacers and got to work. Splits were: 68.81 (59), 70.11 (60), 68.75 (59), 69.75 (60), 69.13 (60), 68.88 (61), 69.20 (60), 68.86 (60), 68.63 (60), 69.07 (61), 68.70 (60), 63.13 (60), 69.13 (60), 68.82 (60), 62.71 (59), 67.5.

I love workouts. Especially when they go well. I don't like standing/walking around for a minute checking the watch every 12 seconds though. I would much rather have the workout be 16 x 400 with 200m jog to keep some sort of rhythm throughout. I really liked the hammer intervals. This was the first time I have incorporated them into my training. Jeff wanted them on numbers 12 and 15 so that's why the splits in bold are so much faster. The pace felt rather comfortable and I knew that if I could run solid for the first 250m the last 150m wouldn't be so bad as the wind was going to be a help. Overall, I felt this was a big step in the right direction. The legs were feeling good to have the bit of turnover thrown in with those hammer intervals.

Lastly, I was also greatly impressed with the level of respect the middle schoolers showed during the workout. I ran into a lanky girl once but other than that the students were relatively aware of my presence and made every effort to get out of the way. I'll also say that in comparison to middle school tracksters, high school football players (male adolescents) are a bunch of fatasses. The Norman High football team was having a spring practice out there today and I couldn't believe how soft some of the guys looked. The middle schoolers in comparison were clearly much smaller and generally looked much fitter. This could be for various reasons like puberty, football vs. track (runner) athletes, or possibly the lack of a recess at the high school level. All I know, is that I saw the chubbiest, flabbiest, mushiest group of Under Armour wearing football players I've ever seen.