24 August 2010

3 Random Guys: One Sweet Time Trial

Let me tell you about my time trial yesterday. I had wanted to time-trial on Saturday, but I wasn't feeling very good. I decided to do it yesterday. I took a break from running to work according to my plans I set which I explained in my post on How I Will Proceed With My Life. Then in the evening about an hour before dinner I ran to the BYU track.

When I got there I found myself with three other runners. One guy was doing a sprint workout and the other two were jogging. To each one I extended the same invitation, "Hey, I'm doing an all-out mile time-trial, would you like to join me." The two joggers said yes and the sprinter said he had already done his workout for the day.

Chris (from Alaska, starting an MFA Creative Writing Master's Program this fall) and Russ (from Boise Idaho, starting his Sophomore year doing pre-med) joined me in the mile time trial. We were pretty spread out. I won, with Russ in second and Chris in third. Chris had prophesied his loss before we started by saying, "Yeah, but you guys will probably whip me." Which we did, but I want to express my gratitude to those guys because it made the experience bearable. No one was exactly pushing me, but knowing that there were guys running all-out at the same time and place as me was comforting and I am very grateful.

I ran a 4:55. It was all-out. After a few minutes I felt like I could have done another or two more and I know that's because I've been putting in a lot of time/mileage running. The strength of my aerobic system helped decrease the time it took to recover after an all-out anaerobic/aerobic effort. It was way cool and I am fairly pleased with the effort.

I thank Chris and Russ for helping me to run fearless.

1 comment: