Charlotte Track Workout

20:15 w/u (3 miles)
Strides, Drills
Target: 3x1200 @5k pace; each lap cut down 87, 85, 83
Actual: (84, 86, 85); (84, 85, 87); (86, 86, 83); (87, 85, 84?)
10 min. c/d (1+ miles)
Total: 7.5 miles

Today was the first of what will undoubtedly be many track workouts with Coach G-Unit. I made a relatively last-minute decision to drive up to Charlotte yesterday so I could spend today checking out apartments and taking a spin around the campus. It also fit my schedule nicely to incorporate this week's track workout, so we decided to get it out of the way this morning before tackling the real tasks of the day. One of the team's 800 guys was also in town and needed to do his own workout (8x200, I think) so we all headed over to the track together. Also, it bears mentioning at this point that we didn't work out at the actual Queens University track. Instead we drove a few miles across town to another college track. Why, you ask? Well apparently when Queens was building their super-duper new athletic complex recently, someone--and I'm not kidding with this--decided to PAVE the track with asphalt. Yes, asphalt. As in, "I'll take 'surfaces you pave a road with' for $300, Alex." I mean, can you imagine the levels of incompetent decision making that had to take place in order for this to actually happen?

But I digress. Anyhow, since I had no idea where I was, I tagged along for the three-mile warmup with Devon. And ran my 5k PR. Okay not really, but 20:15 is considerably faster than I would normally run a 3-mile warmup on my own. After we made it back to the track, I did a few strides and Coach G-Unit showed me some form drills to start incorporating into my daily routine. I dilly-dallied around and stalled for as long as I could before actually beginning the workout.

Overall, I thought this was a positive first effort. I couldn't really get the hang of the pacing and my splits went from faster to slower more often than they did the opposite, but I was pleased that the cumulative time for each interval was basically where it should be. Having someone there to watch me and call out my splits felt a bit odd, as I've been removed from this atmosphere since high school, but I'm excited that after just one session I've come away with some specific things to work on and areas to improve. I came away from this workout more eager than ever to start the track season next month.