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January 04, 2006
Tight Turns
I had forgotten, or never really noticed, how tight the turns are on an indoor track. Today I did my first indoor track workout since 1998. And I found myself struggling to keep my balance going around the turns in lane 1. Ungraceful under most circumstances, I felt clumsier than usual re-learning the art of altering my stride as I moved from straightway to turn and back to straightaway, something that was once instinctual. I had also forgotten the more pleasant sensations running on an indoor track produces. I had forgotten how the scale of the track always makes me feel as if I'm flying, and how I'm able to watch my stride eat up distance on the straightaways, an effect that is diminshed on larger outdoor tracks.
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the U of C's indoor track, and the extensiveness of its hours of operation. It appears that it is open to use by anyone affiliated with the University between 7 AM and 11:30 PM weekdays, with slightly more limited hours on weekends. I decided to do my workout (6x1200, same one as last week) in the break between my morning and afternoon classes. I considered going after my afternoon class, but I was afraid that the track team might be using the track at that time. I would be embarassed to thrash my pitiful, out-of-shape way through my workout while they were there.
The workout went well, and I didn't struggle on the last couple of intervals the way I did last week. Maybe I just didn't work hard enough. Once again, I didn't time them. Maybe I'll get up the cojones to time them by the next time I have this workout (week after next).
And in the "I can run but I can't hide" category, I bumped into one of my classmates (whom I had never noticed before, but with whom I apparently had a class last quarter) at the track. He actually seemed to be running pretty fast, so I may shoot him an e-mail one of these days to see if he'd be up for a run or two.
Posted by alweiss at January 4, 2006 09:47 PM
Comments
You're too modest. I'm sure there are quite a few people on the U of C team who would have trouble keeping up with you. I'm impressed that you can do a track workout without timing yourself. If I didn't know what times I was running in a track workout, I wouldn't know whether to love myself or hate myself for the rest of the day. Just kidding. But really, I think my curiousity would get the best of me. I'm also impressed that you managed to go nearly eight years without stepping on an indoor track. I find that it just takes a few workouts to get back into the swing of things. Once I've done a few, I almost like running on the indoor track more than the outdoor track.
Posted by: Alison at January 5, 2006 09:08 AM
i miss you! i need an update :)
Posted by: bridget at January 13, 2006 09:25 AM