I tried to make a habit of going to Endurance every Thursday this summer because I felt like my conditioning was lacking last year when my schedule kept me from making the class. My schedule is much more flexible these days, so there was no reason for me to miss running in circles on Thursday afternoons this year. Unfortunately, there isn't much evidence that my conditioning has improved in 2016. And my current conditioning isn't where it was earlier in the year due to the break I took. Add it all up and it was obvious that I needed to get my butt back to the track.
There was a nice large group of 10 taking part in Endurance. Among the participants were Flounder and John McHugh, both of whom were convinced that I had given up Crossfit for good. (Or maybe they were trying to give me a hint. Hmmm....) Other Endurance regulars there included Jill Herman, Laura A, Jen S, Ashley, and Joy. Rounding out the cast were Mike Santivasci, an early morning athlete that I did Barbulls with, and Maggie, who had switched from her previous box to KOP in August. Coach Tim got us started by sending the 10 of us off to do a warmup lap.
When we got back, we did some stretching and some drills before Tim let us know what awaited us in the workout. We were to run a "moderate" 400 meters, then slowly jog 100 meters in the opposite direction before turning around and sprinting 200 meters. At the end of the sprint, we'd turn around and jog 100 meters in the opposite direction yet again, bringing us back to the original starting line. We'd be doing 5 rounds of this.
I had never done a workout like this at Endurance and didn't have a strong grasp of how to pace it. Tim often tells us to pace our runs at a certain percentage of our 5K pace, but I'm not sure I could legitimately tell you what my 5K pace is at the moment. And even if I did accurately calculate it, it would probably be much slower than what Tim was hoping for in this workout. I was just going to go with the group and run the pace that felt right to me. I would soon discover that I was not the only one confused about the speed at which we were meant to run the 400's.
On our first 400 meters, I hung around mid-pack the entire way around the track. It didn't feel like we were pushing super hard, but we also were just starting the workout. It's amazing how much easier a quick pace feels when you are fresh and how impossible it feels once you are winded. When I crossed the line, Tim called out a time of 1:36 for me. Pretty fast, but it wasn't like I did any sprinting along the way to get that time. I began my slow jog to the start of the 200 meters. Tim allowed the entire group to reconvene before sending us on our first sprint. As is typical with me, I didn't line up towards the inside. I was going to play catch up during this dash. I'm not sure how many people jumped out in front of me, but I made my way towards the inside of the turn as it cleared out. Then I kicked it in as we started to come into the straight away. Laura and Joy were too far ahead to catch, but I caught up to Ashley and the two of us pushed each other to the finish line. I needed to catch my breath before continuing on with a slow jog back to the starting line.
The ten of us were all going to go together again for round two, but Tim had a brief chat with us. He told us that we went a little too fast during the first round. This is my fourth year doing Endurance and I'm almost certain this was the first time I've ever heard Tim utter those words. Most of the time he is encouraging his exhausted athletes to run just as fast at the end of the workout as they did at the beginning of it. (See my earlier comments on the difference between running fresh and running tired.) Occasionally, he'll say things like "let's see if you can go a few seconds faster on this last run", which is almost always crazy talk. But "you went too fast"? Not part of his vernacular before this day. And when I heard it, I knew I was screwed.
We got a brief break again as the whole group got back together at the starting line, but I was not ready to go. Tim wanted us to do a slow jog on the 100 meter portions of the workout, but the bouncing up and down was not agreeing with my lungs. If I could speed walk instead, I not only would get to the starting line quicker, I would also be able to calm my breathing in the interim. But that bouncy slow jog was not my friend. I was still huffing and puffing when Tim said go. I had no concerns about Tim admonishing me for going too fast the rest of the way. As we headed down the first straightaway, the fast folks were separating themselves from the not-so-fast group. There ended up being an even divide, so when this 400 meters ended, Tim put us into two groups of five. Group 1 was Laura, Ashley, John, Maggie, and Joy. Group 2 would be Jill, Mike, Jen, Flounder, and myself. After being the 4th or 5th person to cross the finish line during the first 400 meters, I faded back to 9th in round two, only a couple of seconds ahead of Jill. My next 100 meters was a mix of speed walking and slow jogging, but group 2 all went together on the sprint. Same result as Jill and I brought up the back of the group.
I had gone from 60 to 0 in an instant and there were still three more rounds to go. Not good. The bright side of going as slow as I did in round two is that it helped me recover some. The 100 meter jog to the starting line still sucked, but I got back with my group who was waiting to begin round three. I was not thrilled with how the second round went (my time was over 2:15, I think), so I tried to calm my breathing at the beginning of the next run and go from there. It worked as I felt more relaxed during the first half of that third run. I was able to lengthen my stride a bit on the back half, allowing me to finish in about 2:05.
While I believe the main focus of this workout was running strong 200 meter sprints (the 400 meter runs were designed to fatigue you before the sprint), I didn't care about that in round three. I made a push on the second half of that 400 meter run because I wanted to prove I could stay with my group. I paid no mind to how that would affect me on the sprint. Not surprisingly, it slowed me up pretty good. It wasn't as bad as the second sprint, but there was no burst along the way. When I reached the finish line, I needed to sit down for a few seconds. I started to fear that round 4 would be like round 2 (maybe even worse!).
When I got up, I was the last one headed back to the starting line. I didn't care about the fact that I was supposed to be jogging. The speed walking was making me feel better and the slow jogs were definitely not the focus of the workout. It was clear to Tim that I was hurting though. As I got near the starting line, he let me know that I could sit out a round if I felt like I wasn't going to be able to keep up with the group on the next 400 meter run. That was all stubborn Dave needed to hear. I told him I would keep up with the group. He sent us on our 4th round and it was definitely more work than the 3rd round was, but I stayed with the group again, finishing near 2:10. (Note: I forget whether it was at the beginning of round three or not, but at some point along the way, Tim told our group to try and keep the 400 meter run in the 2:00-2:15 range, which explains why our group ran similar times in rounds three and four.)
As I did my speed walk towards the start of the 200 meters, I kept using my pride to fuel me. Sit out a round? What kind of crazy talk was that? Just as I was determined in round three to run a better 400 meters, I was now talking myself into running a better 200 meters to wrap up round four. Didn't get off to a very good start though. When I sprint, it typically takes me some time to get into stride and as a result, I'll fall behind the faster starters. Flounder got off to a great start and left the rest of us in his wake going around the turn. I began to push in order to close the gap, but he was so far ahead that I didn't think I could catch him. As we headed down the straightaway, Flounder's stride began to shorten and I was beginning to reel him in. Was there enough time to catch him? I decided to give it all I had right then and there, even though it might have consequences for me in round five. Just before the finish line, I passed Flounder. Four rounds complete, one round to go.
I needed to sit again. I was definitely running on fumes, but there was only one round to go and there is something about knowing that the end is near which always gives me a little bit of a boost. I walked back to the starting line, getting there at about the same time as Mike and Jill. Tim encouraged us to keep on that 2:00-2:15 pace, but he singled out Jen and told her that he thought she could go a little faster than that. I wanted no part of that, but I also didn't want a repeat of round two. I needed to stay reasonably close to her on the final 400 meters.
Tim said it was go time and we headed off on the last 400 meter run of the day. And Jen was flying. She was really pushing this final run and all I could do was wait for her to slow down at some point along the way. It never happened. As I hit the halfway point, I began to get concerned that I wasn't going to hit that 2:00-2:15 range even though I was trying awfully hard to do so. Jen just kept extending her lead on the rest of us. She finished her lap and I still had almost 100 meters to go. I kept pumping my arms, hoping to stay within the time domain Tim had given us. As I crossed the line, I winced, waiting to hear Tim say something like "2:17, not too bad". Instead, he said my time was 1:53. Like I said, Jen was blazing on that last lap, to the point that I once again had no idea what pace I was running.
I think coming in well under the range I was shooting for carried me on the final sprint. I was in rough shape, but I knew I could handle another 35 seconds or so of pain. We all got lined up at the 200 meter mark and when Tim said go, I made sure that I didn't have to make up any ground this time. I grabbed a spot on the inside, pumped my arms like crazy right from the beginning, and carried my momentum all the way to the finish line. Then after a cool down lap, we got together for a photo.
Sometimes Flounder needs a hug
Overall, it was not a pretty performance from me. That second round was one of the worst feelings I've ever had in an Endurance class. You never want the coach to ask you if you need a round off. All of that spoke to my lack of conditioning. But I did like the way I finished the workout and hoped to build off of that at next week's Endurance class.
Friday preview: Nooner express! We find a 1RM clean and jerk and take part in some partner rowing.
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