Around and Around and Around

I wasn't able to get out to the track early this morning for my speedwork, but it was a pretty nice day (chilly, but sunny and not too windy), so I didn't want to get on the treadmill. I hate to resort to the treadmill unless it's absolutely necessary.

There's no track near the gym, though, so I headed down the road a bit, and was planning on just going back and forth on a straight, relatively flat stretch of road. Not the most exciting workout venue, but no more boring than an oval track, right?

I did my first two repeats on that flat stretch of road, and then realized that I was right at the entrance to a neighborhood that's comprised of a very large, flat loop of road with cul-de-sacs branching off of it. Bingo!

I headed in, and started making my way around the main loop road. It was perfect! It turned out to be just about a half-mile, so about halfway around was one repeat, and the next half was my rest interval. There was a small incline at one end of the loop, but nothing too terrible. And although I was still running in circles, it didn't seem as torturous as the track sometimes does.

The first few repeats were on the slow side - 1:40 and above - but then I got them down closer to 1:36 and 1:37, which was more where I wanted to be. Even ran one 400 in 1:34, which is a 6:18 pace! Yowza!!!

In the end, it was a great workout. I was supposed to do 10 x 400, but I even threw in an extra, to make it 11. And I am seriously considering doing several more 'track' workouts in this neighborhood. It's just different enough to throw me off and keep it from getting too monotonous. A nice little discovery to add a twist to my training : )

On an unrelated note, my baby is about to turn two years old, and I cannot for the life of me figure out where the last two years went. It seems like just yesterday I was waddling around, nearly two weeks overdue, wondering if he was EVER going to make an appearance.

We won't have a big party for him. We did that for his 1st, and from now until his 5th birthday, we'll just do quiet family parties - just the grandparents and us.

I am planning a fabulous Mickey Mouse cake, though, and will be trying my hand at decorating with fondant for only the second time. It was a little tricky the first time, but fun, too, so I'm looking forward to it. And if it doesn't come out quite right, I don't think the birthday boy is going to mind. He'll be too busy shoving fistfuls of cake in his mouth to worry about whether or not the decorating was up to par!

Comments

[Wes]

sounds like my Hobgood Park, a nice half mile loop with a slight rise on the top of the "clock".

I'm sure your little one thought his birthday was "big". That's how they roll ;-)