First track workout of the season and it sucked. Not only did it suck, but it sucked cheese balls. It was 93 degrees with bad air quality and I, of course, forgot my inhaler. Yesterday’s drill was partner 800’s, which I typically love…except for yesterday. I knew I was in trouble when I started to feel my knee ache during the warm up jog to the track and my legs were feeling like they were a bazillion pounds. We were supposed to be running at our half marathon pace, which for me is around 10:30 – 10:45, but when I looked at my Garmin during my first lap I was going 7:36! WTH?! At that moment, I knew that the already sucky workout was about to get worse. It’s a rookie mistake to go all out on the first lap and I couldn’t help myself. I always run faster on the track, but I’m fairly good about pacing myself…at least I was last year.  It felt like I was starting over. My body was cursing me, my legs wouldn’t cooperate, my lungs gave me the hand and said “yeah, right.” The heat was really getting to me and while I thought I hydrated enough, I definitely didn’t.

Meghan was right, it’s like childbirth (well, I guess…I don’t have kids). You forget the pain that you went through the first time, so you do it again, then it hits you….training sucks.

By the last lap I was so gassed that I my pace dropped to 11:20’s. We planned on 5 rounds, but gave in at 4. It’s only week 1, so we have time to improve (I hope). I’m going to really have to buckle down and get my head back in the right place.

Lessons learned:

• Don’t forget your inhaler
• Hydrate better before and during the runs
• Don’t go all out in the beginning

The only good thing about yesterday’s workout was grabbing a beer with my girls to “refuel” afterwards. No matter how bad it gets, there’s always beer!