My lovely wife, Liz, has joined me for the past two Tuesday night performance running clinics. It took a while to talk her into it – she’s not enjoyed speed work in the past and she was worried about being too slow for the clinic. I eventually convinced her that it was a very laid-back group, and that there would very likely be someone for her to run with. I couldn’t promise it would be fun, but I guaranteed her it would be better than going to the track alone.
Her first time out was last week, and Max had us doing a tempo run on a loop around the park. There are parts of the loop without lights, so our tempo pace had to be fast enough to finish before it got too dark. Good motivation! Liz had a great experience and felt welcome and not intimidated. And we finished before dark!
Last night the workout was 6×1000 or 6×700 with a short rest between loops. The short workout often draws newcomers and a few people who need to leave early. Last night the short workout drew three newcomers, including Liz. By happy coincidence, the three were all about the same speed, so they stuck together and challenged each other. When the six loops were done Liz had run faster than she’d expected to, and she had fun. She’s sold on the magic of Tuesday night.
