Blonde Moments Are Priceless!

The other day (1/5/11) I went out for my first run in the new shoes. I was really excited about getting out to the track so I guess I was a bit distracted. I forgot to set the interval timer on my watch before I left. I always take care of setting the time on my watch when I am planning on track repeats because I am notoriously bad at pacing otherwise. As I was walking out the door, my five year old asked to go with me, causing me more distraction. He had been asking to join me for several days so I decided to go ahead and let him come along. He climbed on his bike and away we went.

We reached the track and as Connor was getting his bike stowed away so he could play at the playground in the middle of the park, I was finishing up my warm-up around the track. I stopped when I finished my warm-up mile and set the timer on my watch for a 2 minute 10 second pace per 400 meters. Then I set my Nike GPS app on my phone to keep track of my distance. I was thinking I would run four, 400 meter repeats with 200 meter rest intervals in between. I set my run distance for three miles and started my workout. Notice I said three miles.

I was running the first interval at about 80 percent of my full effort when the first timer went off. I looked down at my distance and was distressed when I saw that I had only covered .3 of a mile. I thought maybe I really was not running as I hard as I should have been and decided to step it up on the next try. I bolted down the track the second time at closer to 90 percent of my full effort. The timer went off and I checked my distance only to see I had covered the exact same area - .3 of a mile. I was really beginning to worry that I had seriously lost some speed during the holidays. Rather than beat myself up over it, I changed the timer to give myself 2 minutes 30 seconds to get the 400 meters completed and started interval three. I still put out at least 80 percent effort. Again the timer went off and this time my distance read .33 of a mile. "What the heck is going on?", I asked myself. There was a part of me that wanted to give up and head home, but that is just not the way I roll. "Give up" is not in my vocabulary. I figured all I could do was continue the work out and do the best I could, even if I was running below my expectations.

I took off for interval four mulling over my perplexing situation. One minute 48 seconds into the interval, the light bulb turned on in my head. I literally smacked myself in the forehead with the palm of my hand. (By the way, I do not recommend doing that in a public place!) I had been using miles to gauge meters. 400 meters does not equal .4 of a mile. In fact, when I had been hitting .3 of a mile in my allotted time, I had actually been running 482 meters, well over the 400 meters I was attempting. I felt completely ridiculous and more than a little air-headed. However, I did not quit my workout. Instead, I chose to make it a lot more fun for me. I switched to running 40 steps at an all-out pace for me, then 40 steps at a relaxed, recovery jog. After six sets I called it a night feeling just a bit better about my goofy mix-up. And when Connor asked me if I had a good run, I just smiled at him and said, "You bet I did!"