No lie, true story, I just walked in the door from a workout. Minutes ago. I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle it, I haven’t ran anything decently fast without feeling like dying in months. Between that history of mine, the intimidating pace and distances of the workout, I was pretty sure I was asking for an exhaustion induced face plant. I enjoy a good snack on the run every now and then, but a mouthful of tartan (a common track surface material) is not my first choice.

 I strapped on an old pair of Streak XCs and set off down the warm up to the track. Of course I would feel like absolute garbage on the warm-up, tough breathing sore muscles, all those sorts of things. Upon arrival to the track, I thought wow there are way too many people here to witness me die. We proceeded to do drills, stride, none which felt good to me and we stretched.

 Game time! Starting off the working felt like being shot out of a cannon, not wearing flats or being on a track in a long time, the pace wasn’t blistering but the conditions made it all feel fast. We run, lined up, smooth pace, apparently there was a lake in the back turn, and we ran through that too. At the conclusion of the interval, I felt ok, you know not dead like I had anticipated. The rest ended sooner than I wanted than the second one rolled around. Strangely enough it felt a lot more relaxed, perhaps it was because we were going slower, but I don’t know. Soon enough we we’re at the third interval and it was my turn to lead, I knew the pace and I just the legs go do their thing. It was like my body had woken up for this one. Somehow for the remainder of the workout, the rest of the pieces had fallen into place. No it wasn’t effortless that is for sure, but I felt zero resistance from my own body as I cruised through these intervals.

 A consequence of this workout, besides not being able to use my calves, is a strong desire and inspiration to train to reach my full potential again. I’ll be finding some races, putting down some goals, who knows maybe I’ll share them here. Time to get to the drawing board and start cruising.