Track FEAR

On February 19, 2015February 19, 2015 By Girl Running CrazyIn General5 Comments

Every week Tuesday rolls around and it’s time. With sweaty palms and a sickening feeling deep in my stomach, it’s time to check the Chasers website and see what track session is lined up for the evening. Peaking through my fingers I slowly scroll down to find the right date and what’s in store…

THE HORROR

I hate track. No matter what the session involves, track is the one thing that always makes me giddy with nerves long before I even get to Battersea…and then the nightmare unfolds.

As soon as I wake up on Tuesday I’m trying to find excuses to skip it. Maybe I’m ill, am I ill? I’m not ill… Is that a twinge in my leg? Maybe I’ll have to work late? Maybe, just maybe I’ll have something better to do? But it’s a Tuesday and, sadly, I really don’t have anything better to do. I’m scared.

When I first started going to track 2 years ago I was always last. I wasn’t last a little bit, I was last by a LOT. Everyone was just faster than me so I would have to beast myself on every rep, come in last, and then get killed on the recovery, which would obviously be shorter than everyone elses.

Basically I spent the whole session running like this desperately trying to hang off the back of someone else.

My problem was I always, always ran off too fast, I would literally run as fast as I could until I realised pretty quickly I couldn’t keep it up for longer than 100m. I ran off too fast because I was trying to keep up, but it was a strategy doomed for failure. Track Fear was born.

During one session that left me gasping and almost in tears Bryn told me that it was much better to skip a lap, or walk the last 100m, to get the recovery I needed for the next rep than to slow down. If you can’t do the full session at goal pace, cut the session, don’t drop the pace. Since then I’ve stuck to that principle.

This week was a 10 x 800m Yasso session (yep that’s 5 miles in total). The goal was to run each 800m in your target marathon time, so if you’re aiming for a 3 hour 45 marathon you should be aiming for a 3 min 45 sec 800m – whatever your goal, that’s actually a pretty achievable pace for track.

I had a good session this week, each rep came in just under target (although some were a tad fast) but I felt strong throughout so I was happy!

I learned the hard way that track isn’t about running as fast as you possibly can, that will only leave you knackered and open to injury – I’m a long distance runner, not a sprinter.

Track is one session in my training week, an important session, but one session and the reason I go is to build upon and improve my speed. Yes, it should be hard, it should be uncomfortable and it should leave you out of breath but it shouldn’t leave you in absolute bits.

I don’t hate track, not really, but I am scared of it and I do get so nervous my legs turn to jelly as soon as I step on that orange bouncy stuff. But, every Tuesday around 8pm, I walk out into Battersea Park with a sense of achievement and relief. It’s only a lil’ 400m loop after all, it’s not so bad is it?

Until Tuesday rolls around again…

24 Hours. On a Track

On September 25, 2013 By Girl Running CrazyIn General2 Comments

Could you stay awake for 24 hours? Maybe? If you had to? Could you stay awake and RUN for 24 hours? In a 400m loop? Just round & round & round…? I know a man who can, and what an absolute legend he turned out to be.

I already knew Chris was hardcore. He runs ultras, trail ultras, extreme ones, in fact he runs all the ultras, all of them. However, what I didn’t appreciate is just how hardcore he actually is.

This weekend was the Self-Transcendence 24 hour race at Tooting Bec track. Yep, 24 hours of track. Hell? I think so! But Chris was about to take on this mamouth challenge starting at noon on Saturday and finishing at noon on Sunday.

On Saturday I ran 20 miles. It was one of the hardest training runs I’ve ever done. It was so tough I started setting myself mini goals at just 12 miles…2 more miles and you’re at 14, then it’s just 6 to go…that’s less than 10k and you know you can do that…let’s just pop another gel and hope for the best. Oh look, there’s a deer, I better stop & take a photo so it doesn’t head butt me (those Richmond deer are attention seeking so & so’s I tell you)

Photo of deer – taken for personal safety reasons only, not because I wanted to stop for 60 seconds, not at all:

I don’t know whether it was because I haven’t done a long run for 4 weeks and I was pushing a bit hard, or something else, but it wasn’t a great place to be mentally. I’ve never been happier to see my front door. Anyway, I spent the rest of the day resting & eating & lying still with compression socks on, I even watched about 10 minutes of women’s football because lifting the remote was too much effort (sad but true). I crawled up and down the stairs and I got a good nights sleep. All the while Chris was still running…(well, there aren’t any deer in Tooting Bec)

On Sunday morning I awoke to find he had already reached 90 miles some point in the early hours and was just 10 away from the 100 mile goal! Before I left home he had only gone and done it. 100 miles!

When I turned up at the track I was struck by a fairly somber mood, about 30 people were running, shuffling and hobbling round the track, some even looked like they were about to fall over. I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting but it was clear to see people were in a dark place, I guess I thought they would be happy it was nearly over but they were past that point.

I spotted Chris and he was walking, his head was slightly down, his knee was strapped up, and, to be honest, I was worried. Despite this he smiled when I waved at him and asked me how the ankle was. It turned out he had some damage to his own ankle and hadn’t been physically able to run for a few hours.

I quickly learnt the rules. Fellow Chaser, Jane, was on the support crew for the final 8-12 shift and she explained that someone was allowed to accompany a runner for 150m on each lap. Those 150m were pretty vital, it was a chance to understand where he was mentally, what was he thinking and what he needed. There were a whole team of official lap counters so we didn’t need to worry about that but what he did need to know was how many laps it was to the next goal. Sounds easy, but converting laps into miles and into marathon distance, then back into km’s and making 100% sure it was right was an important job, there was no room for error!

So, the 100 mile goal had been reached but, as always, one goal leads rapidly to another and we were now aiming for 4 marathons. Chris reached this and then set the next goal of 170k …

…170k barrier reached. Whoooooo!

Chris is an amazing athlete. He finished in 12th place covering over 106 miles (over 171k) – that’s a HUGE 428 laps of an athletics track!! He achieved his 100 mile goal, he achieved his 4 marathon goal, he even achieved his 170k goal, but, most importantly, he also smashed his fundraising target. I actually thought I was going to cry when the clock turned to 00:00:00. 24 hours, done!

Happy happy 24 hour ultra runner!

Chris wasn’t the only person who impressed me that day. I also met Geoff. Geoff is 80 years old and clocked up a whooping 94 miles despite suffering some health problems over the last year. He was still running right at the very end. He was still smiling and he was still thanking people for their support. What touched me the most was that he made an effort to change into a shirt & tie for the presentation ceremony at the end. He really was a lovely man and definitely the smartest ultra runner I know!

I genuinely witnessed something very special this weekend. It’s not just the hours and hours of training and preparation, or the sacrifice and dedication but it’s a whole lot of heart and a whole lot of soul. These runners left absolutely everything they had on that track, they are truly phenomenal and I felt very privileged and humbled to watch them finish.

My First Ever Track Session

On May 8, 2013July 12, 2013 By Girl Running CrazyIn GeneralLeave a comment

Tuesday night is track night. This involves different combinations of speedwork round Battersea Park’s 400m track and last night it almost killed me.

This week’s schedule was 4 x 1 mile reps with 75-90 second recoveries followed by 8 x 60 sprints on the grass. I may have been unfortunate to start on a night that involved mile reps, or I may have been lucky that the reps weren’t shorter and therefore faster, I’m currently undecided…

Again, we were split into 3 groups and I chose the ‘third group’, note not ‘slow group’ but the ‘third’. As the group started the pace didn’t feel too bad, but as the laps continued I started to fall behind, by the time we’d finished the 4^th lap and completed the first mile I collapsed on the grass. That was one of four done, I barely had a chance to catch my breath and we were off again. The second mile was awful, I wasn’t sure whether I was going to pass out, vomit, have an asthma attack or an unfortunate combination of all of the above. As a result I only ran 3 of the 4 laps, what a complete loser. Mile 3 was much the same but I was determined to complete all 4 laps on the final mile and promised myself a nice little lay down on the grass afterwards.

The little laydown didn’t last long as we finished with our 60m sprints, but these actually weren’t so bad, almost enjoyable compared to the mile reps!

I finished my first track session in bits, having pretty much come in last, having only completed 14 of the 16 laps and this morning I was walking like a penguin again.

On the brightside, we were supposed to be hitting our 10k pace, possibly 5k if feeling strong. This would put my 5k time at 21.44 and 10k at 43.29, both of which I would be more than chuffed with so it’s not all bad!

So that’s track then, same again next week yeah?!

Me. Walking