I went to my first track workout of the summer season this week. Ugh, I forgot how hard running fast is! I was grateful, however, that it was just in the low 80s and mild humidity after work on Wednesday.
My friend Courtney at Eat Pray Run DC links up with two other bloggers on Fridays for a themed link up. Today I’m linking up for the Friday Five with Courtney, Mar, and Cynthia. Make sure you check out their awesome blogs as well as those who join the link up!
Here are 5 essentials to bring to a track or hill repeat workout.
- A plan. Print it out, schedule it on your phone or your watch. But have an idea of what you’re going to do, and commit to it. It’s easy to talk yourself out of “some 800s” but it’s much hard to talk yourself out of “4 x 800 with 400 easy in between”. And when you’re tired, having it set takes the thinking out of the equation.
- A stopwatch/GPS watch. Pretty obvious. Long runs and easy runs you can sometimes do by feel or by tracking on your phone. But for track, you need/will want to know how fast you’re running every 200, or every lap. And it keeps you honest.
- Water. Faster pace in DC summers, particularly in the evening means more sweating. I can do 5-6 miles easy without a water bottle with me. Not true for track. You need to stay hydrated!
- Sunscreen. Tracks don’t have shade/trees. Wear sunscreen.
- Sunglasses/hat. Similar to above. The glare from bleachers, or running into the sun at dusk can be bad. It’s worth having sunglasses or a hat so you can stay focused on your pace.
Track buddies- photo cred to Ajani
Checking our splits. Photo cred- Ajani
What are you track workout essentials? Anyone have a favorite speed workout?
Rockstar! Way to rock that track workout. AND so fun hanging tonight 🙂
Since I run long distances, I like long splits for speedwork–mile repeats, 2 mile repeats. They’re hard but the payoff is great!
Good essentials! I always bring a towel to stretch on afterwards and wipe off all that sweat! 🙂
Towel- such a good idea!
Very good list of essentials! Personally I need my mp3 player so I can listed to my podcasts. 🙂 I have been doing my track workouts in my neighborhood. It involves paying attention to my Garmin but most of the time I like that it saves me time to not have to drive to the track. I also am afraid I will get bored at the track just running in circles!
You’re right that is does take time to get to a track. I meet up with friends and/or my running group, which helps relieve the boredom, because we can chat in between sets. And I make up stories about other people I see at the track (kind of like active people-watching).
I have never done a track workout. Perhaps that is why I am not a speedy runner..lol!
I didn’t until 2 years ago. I have definitely noticed it changed my running! There’s also hill repeats (a different kind of terrible and yet good).
There are no tracks in France that are available and open to the public. So my repeats are usually on a flat piece of land in the park where I usually run.
Fully agree with you on sunscreen !
I like doing pyramids so I have a variety of distances in one track workout; however, my favorites are probably 400 or 800’s. The best part of a track workout is finishing up, dripping in sweat, and knowing that you left it all on the track!
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