My name is Abradypus and I have never run a track session.
I didn’t set out to avoid track sessions, it just sort of happened. My club’s track session is at 9:30am on a Saturday, and as I was a parkrunner long before I dared to join a running club, it’s not a session that I am ever likely to attend.
My training plan has included sessions which should be run on a track, but as most of the references are to miles or half miles and I’m usually fitting them into that short window of time between getting home from work and collapsing on the sofa, I’ve always found a way to deliver them using a GPS watch and some quiet residential streets.
But over time, not doing track sessions because they weren’t convenient seems to have become actively avoiding track sessions. My running comfort zone has expanded to include trail, running club, parkrun, marathons and ultras, but track sessions are unfamiliar territory and hence something to be avoided.
My local tracks publish their opening hours, but with the caveat that from time to time the track may be closed because of an athletics meeting or private booking. What if I turn up and the track is shut? *panic*
I time everything with GPS, but GPS can’t work on a 400m track, so how will I time my runs? *panic*
I’ve joined a running club and discovered that it’s not where all the super-fast, super-fit, supercilious runners hang out. What if they’re all at the track? *panic*
It’s all getting a little bit ridiculous.
So today, I went to the track!
I girded my loins (I do like that expression), grabbed my keys and went.
And do you know what? It was fine. It wasn’t shut (and if it had been, I could just have tried the other local track). It wasn’t full of superfast runners (and the runners who were there had better things to do than judge my worthiness). And I took care of the timing by switching off my GPS and just using my watch as a stopwatch.
And yes, the session itself was a disaster because I’m still carrying a little bit of fatigue from Race to the Stones in my legs. And yes, I did hit “stop” rather than “lap” on my watch at a critical point because I’m a muppet. But those two things I can deal with.
Because my name is Abradypus, and I have run my first track session.
abradypus 
HA HAAA!!!! Faaaabulous!!!! Amazing! So kewl! Can’t waIt to read the next instalment!!! Xxx
‘girdered my lions’
That’s what I always thought it was.
Poor lions. That can’t be pleasant.
Woo woo!! Well done!! Track sessions are strange aren’t they? I’ve had my GPS for years and STILL couldn’t tell you which side is lap and which is stop – I do exactly the same thing!! Tracks DO make interval sessions easier though as it’s all flat and measured and people don’t walk out in front of you with dogs and cars and things 🙂
True… though there was a man with a drill and a toolbox working on the edge of the track who kept leaving them in the lane as a tempting trip hazard. Fortunately, I was running slowly enough to take evasive action 😉
LOL about the stops and laps…. Happens to me all the time!
Great insight – I too have voided the track maybe I need to face my fears and get down to one
have always avoided track sessions, but maybe I will pick up my lions and try one 🙂
Respec’. I feel it’s somewhere in my future, but I’ve always thought a track session is something you do once you’re already fast…