We started our track sessions Wednesday Night, meeting at Will Rogers High School on the padded track around the football field. I, for one, thought it was a super nice facility, with the rubberized surface being a soft glide. It was almost as nice as running on soft trails.
The idea behind these track sessions is to fine tune particular aspects of your running. This is a time to systematically whittle your pace down. An easy jog around the track to warm up is followed by a brief series of stretching. Then, with your target pace in mind, you run a lap (400 meters or 1/4 mile) at the prescribed pace, then a slow jog or walk, and repeating this 4 times. I am sure there will be different workouts as we progress.
It is important to stay focused on the task at hand, following the methods, and not running lap after lap as fast as your legs will carry you. If you do not run the designed intervals, then it's just another evening jog at the river--not a bad thing, but you're not likely to get the results that others who follow the directions get.
There were some tonight who ran 6 laps, and some who probably ran 16 or more. It will be interesting to see how much everyone progresses. We may start to see a lot of PRs shattered in the next few months. A good thing, yes?
The idea behind these track sessions is to fine tune particular aspects of your running. This is a time to systematically whittle your pace down. An easy jog around the track to warm up is followed by a brief series of stretching. Then, with your target pace in mind, you run a lap (400 meters or 1/4 mile) at the prescribed pace, then a slow jog or walk, and repeating this 4 times. I am sure there will be different workouts as we progress. 
It is important to stay focused on the task at hand, following the methods, and not running lap after lap as fast as your legs will carry you. If you do not run the designed intervals, then it's just another evening jog at the river--not a bad thing, but you're not likely to get the results that others who follow the directions get. 
There were some tonight who ran 6 laps, and some who probably ran 16 or more. It will be interesting to see how much everyone progresses. We may start to see a lot of PRs shattered in the next few months. A good thing, yes?