When was the last time you ran on an athletics track? For most people I suppose it would have been in PE class in highschool and may not bring back good memories. My memories of the very few PE sessions at the track are good when it comes to running. Not so good when it comes to throwing, whether a javelin or a disc… I was pretty rubbish at that!!

14 years later, in 2015, I got to burn the track again for a few interval sessions with my club. Not my favourite type of training as I find them much more boring than running in a park but I must admit that they are a good way to improve speed!

What about RACING on a track though? Surely that’s only for Olympians and other professionals? At least that’s what I thought. So when I saw that my club was organising a track race, “Ealing Eagles Night of the 5000m PBs”, I jumped on the opportunity to try not only a 5K to get a PB (Personal Best… as a track is dead flat, chances are you will get an awesome time), but also “to feel all Olympic” and try a 100m and a 400m. Actually the main reason I signed up for the event was to see how I’d do on short distance as the 3 fun 4x4000m relays on grass I got to do during my club’s summer league made me realise that I really enjoyed sprinting and was not bad at it.

So last Friday night, in a very appropriate way to spend the few hours before the Olympics opening ceremony I ran 12.5 laps of the athletics track to a 5K PB of 22:22 thanks to my awesome supporters, Baby O and husband C! So chuffed! I even managed to sprint the last 100m. Does it mean I could have run harder for the rest of the race? The answer must be in my heart rate monitor data, which I’m guilty of not really using…
Running 5K on track was actually less boring than I expected: I focused on running together with another girl in order to pace but also challenge each other. Fellow club members cheering also helped a lot and calculating my target chip time for the next lap was keeping my mind busy.

Then the real fun began: the sprints! After a few drills to prepare our legs for the 100m and 400m and avoid injuries, I got to my allocated lane and gave my best shot at the 100m race to finish 3rd lady in 16:79 sec. Very happy about that considering I’ve never had proper training for sprints.By the time the 400m started, my legs and I were a bit tired but still managed to come 3rd again and complete it in 1:21: min.

Wondering if it’s any good? As a comparision Usain Bolt runs 100m in  9:58 sec and the women’s 100m world record stands at 10:49 sec. Michael Johnson still holds the men’s 400m world record with 43:18sec and the women’s is 47:60 sec. So I just have a tiny bit of room for improvement. Just a tiny bit…

Now, where do I find a club to coach the 30-something-year-old-me to sprint? 😉