The Pain, The Agony, The Out-of-Shapeness!

"You know, Sarah, it might be a good idea, with this whole 'marathon-coming-up-in-less-than-10-weeks' thing, if you actually did some speedwork."

This brilliant thought, and all the post by Gorgeous about all of the tempo runs and speedwork she's been doing, pushed me to turn right back around after coming home from work yesterday. I raced over to Bartell-Pritchard to actually do the speed training that I had signed up and paid money for.

Shocking: that I paid money for something is not usually enough of a motivation for me to actually do something. Especially if that something involves me wondering at several points if I will see the rosy pink lining of my stomach with my very own eyes.

More probable: Gorgeous has been doing all this work and has been running so well. Not to mention the Speedy Blonde. They might beat me in the marathon but what if it were a blowout?

Side note: I might need to work on my competitiveness. I think I'd try to race Paula Radcliff if she were running by. She'd never know that anyone was trying to race her, and the actual race would last about 5 seconds. But I'd try to hang on for those 5 seconds. Is this a personality flaw, I wonder? It's a bit reminiscent of Don Quixote, tilting at windmills.

So. Spent the whole time running to the meet-up thinking about how I need to figure out what to do in my Epistemology class today. Decided that this might be a time to learn that lesson others have been trying to teach me: sometimes it's more productive to not come fully prepared with a lecture and 16 pages of type-written notes to class.

Ah. Justifications.

Got a chance to catch up a bit with the Child Whisperer before our three-mile warm-up. Then off to do 440s.

Those who know me already know several things about this work-out without having to read the rest. You may stop here. Yes, all of that was true today, too.

My stomach dropping at the news that we had to do 400s. Bad air quality. Asthma attack in the middle. Me (almost) puking.

Just another re-run.

Did ok on the first 4. We only had 30 seconds of rest in-between. To me, with being out of shape, generally preferring a 20-mile run while desperately hung-over to running 400's, being a teensy bit competitive (see above), being paired initially with Ivy League and Macrobiotic Man (among others), and it being really hot and humid outside, that 30 seconds felt like 2.

And then.....Drum roll.......here it comes.......Lap 5=anaerobic running. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I got an asthma attack.


I know you are surprised.

I hate getting asthma attacks during speedwork. Especially when I am this out of shape. I feel like I am making excuses for myself and that I should just try harder.

So I took my inhaler and tried to do number 6. Awesomeness. Couldn't keep up. We had already broken away from Ivy League and Macrobiotic Man and formed our own group because they were going too fast after the first 3 or so. I still couldn't keep up.

Coach: "Are you ok?" Me: "No" :almost pukes on Coach's shoes;

I really know the way to show my best side!

Anyway, we were supposed to do 6 440's with 30 seconds rest inbetween at a pace of 90 seconds/440. Hah. First 4, this basically happened. After that, no way.

We then got 3 minutes rest and did another 4 with 30 seconds in-between. The last one had me reduced to peering at the Child Whisperer's disappearing back as I told myself "Just hang on. Just hang on."

That one was my worst: 100 seconds. Bah. The rest, though were (mainly) between 90 and 95 seconds.

We were doing these by the tennis courts so, afterwards, we ran back to the circle, where I trundled home with Ivy League.

Best part of the night: Ivy League and I got to get yummy burgers. With fries. Hey - I did speedwork!