I can't believe it's been a year since I laced up and toed the line. A year of waiting, months of trying to get back into shape, and already a season filled with a lot of uncertainty, but the rust is officially busted! This weekend I headed down with the rest of the DTC to spike up at the brand new Virginia Beach Sports Center. The baby blue track did not disappoint, but the times may have a bit at first glance.
Last year I ran my 2nd ever 600 and clocked 1:29.9 on a flat track. Converted that's roughly 1:28.9 a ways ahead of this year's mark. While 1:31.2 isn't much to write home about it was a good chance to hop on the oval and see how things have been going in training. After starting back with a full five to six days of running in December and mostly aerobic training, this indoor season is more about gaining fitness for me than anything else.
Due to covid, there's also been an extra layer of unpredictability in terms of meets- are they happening? Are they not? What's the testing protocol? Are they letting unattached runners compete? It's thrown a wrench into our schedule and therefore in our ability to prepare to really race. We didn't know we'd even be racing in this one until about a week and a half out. Prior to this meet we only did two workouts geared toward 600/800 race pace and that meant race day hit harder than usual.
Booty lock. Nausea. Migraine. Track cough. That's how to know you ran hard and that's how things went after crossing the line Saturday night. While my game plan was to run sub 1:33 (the indoor standard), the high schoolers in our heat came to play pulling us through relatively fast the first 200. It might have been my first race in a year, but for most of them, they're already 3-6 meets in and are now peaking to hit fast times for their respective state meets and nationals.
For a first race back it wasn't the ideal situation; feeling somewhat dragged through faster than my game plan pacing and feeling the effects halfway through, but it was good to rip the band-aid off. The first time really pushing hard is never fun. The bright side though is that it makes doing it the next time around easier.
There's still plenty of work to be done and I'm excited to see what's to come
You can watch the race here
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