I HATE the track.
HATE IT. I’ll be the first person to tell you. The thought of the track makes me cringe, however during these COVID WFH (work from home) months I have forced challenged myself to run in continuous circles. To my surprise, the last couple weeks have been quite pleasant. I’ve even found myself looking forward to them. I’m not saying that all of a sudden, these workouts have become easy. They are never easy, but I have started to feel stronger by doing them. Every sprint and every lap still hurt.
Side note: It is entirely possible that I am delusional and feel a false sense of physical strength in the early morning before I have had my coffee in this place where I also happen to feel great mental pain. In that case, I am gaining confidence and not necessarily strength. Regardless of what exactly it is I’m gaining; I am becoming physically and quite possibly mentally tougher as a result of this oval running activity. I thought I would share my quarantine track workout with you and maybe you would like to add it to your quarantine activities.
Track Workout
1.5 miles warmup (6 laps) – easy pace
6 x 400s
2 x 200s
4 x 100s
1.5 miles cool down (6 laps) – easy pace
Starting out the workout I make sure to ease into the set of 400s. I usually warm up into my first 400, making sure that I listen to my body. I don’t want to get hurt. It is important that I don’t push it too fast before I am fully warmed up. After each 400, I usually jog an easy lap of recovery to stay moving but let my heart rate come down. Feel free to recover or jog between any of the sprints as you feel comfortable.
I usually run the 400s at about an 80% effort. I am not sprinting at 100% effort on each 400, or 200, or 100. I run at a fast pace, but one that I can maintain throughout the entire workout. I have made the mistake of sprinting all out on my second or third 400, only to find that I’ve ruined any chance of being able to sustain a fast pace through the fifth and sixth when I do that. When I get to the 200s, I try to run them at a faster pace than the 400s. Same thing goes with the 100s. They should be faster than my 200s.
PRO TIP: If you are like me and also hate the track, the workout above is 1000% more enjoyable if you have people to do it with you. The warmup, cool down, and recovery laps are nice breaks between the springs where I like to chat with a friend.
No matter where you live, you are probably not too far away from a track. In the time of Covid, it is best to make sure it is open. I found a couple of high school tracks in my neighborhood that are closed due to the quarantine or are under construction at this time. The track is also an easy way to practice proper social distancing.
