Repeats

After yesterday's training run with my friend Megan, we started trying to figure out when we could train together during the week.  I have a 5k I'm running on Thanksgiving, so I told her I probably wouldn't run on Wednesday because I wanted to have a recovery day before the race, but I could probably run a little on Tuesday morning.

We agreed to run Tuesday morning, but I told Megan that she had to pick the workout we were doing.  On Monday night I received a text message from Megan, "How do 400 and 800 meter repeats sound at 8:00am?"

Tuesday morning (today) we met at the park and did our workout.  We did our workout around a 1.5 mile loop.  We started with a 400 meter repeat, then an 800, and then 3 more 400's.

After we finished that first loop Megan told me we were going to change it up a little.  This time we started with an 800 and I was to give her a 20 second head start.  This ment I had to try to chase Megan down and hopefully we would finish at about the same time.  I was able to catch up to Megan around 600 meters into our 800 meter stretch and my legs were feeling pretty tired when we finished the repeat.

After that we decided to stick with 400 meter repeats until we finished the second loop.  When we did our first 400 meter repeat I started with Megan and didn't give her a head start.  She wasn't very happy with me starting at the same time as her.  When we finished the repeat she told me that she wanted me to give her a head start so I would be forced to run faster and catch her.  Megan is pretty fast, and I really didn't want to try to catch up to her because I knew I was going to really have to hit it hard to close the lead she had on me.  I also knew that she was doing this to help me out so that I would be forced to run faster and get in a good workout.

Megan and I started training together about a week ago.  I really enjoy running with her.  She has a pretty solid work ethic and is very strong willed.

During our training runs there have been times when she's mentioned that her legs felt heavy, or that they feel empty.  Anytime I would ask her if we should back off on the pace she just replies with, "No, I'm fine."  Then she usually pushes harder.

It's good to have a training partner like this.  When you see your partner pushing through discomfort and pain, it inspires you to do the same.  

Until next time...

KEEP RUNNING!!!!