Tuesday's track work is fine and necessary and we build variability into the workouts. One week we repeat an interval 400 or 800 recently. One week we do something on a ladder, stepping up from 400 to 800 to 1200 to 800 to 400, or 800-1200-1200-800, etc. We're gradually building to a mile on the track and three miles of intervals for each work out. With a mile warm up and warm down, that is a good five mile day.
Thursday is the tempo workout and with the group at different paces, we can start together but not always run all together. I knew tonight was going to be a "light" night for attendance so it suited me well to go it alone.
Starting at 6:30 I put my reflective vest on and carried my small flashlight. I alternate carrying it in my hands, shifting every half mile or so to help maintain the rhythm of my arm swing without tiring the arm with the flashlight.
Running in the dark is always a challenge. Recall the rules of running in the dark.
One of the benefits of running in the dark is that since you are not seeing much of the surroundings, most of the world is black, house lights, street lights, vehicle head lights are enough to help you see and make your way.
But in the dark, your other senses, hearing in particular take on more importance. You can hear what is moving in the dark sometimes before you see it.
You can run more by feel in the dark than I think you would allow yourself to do during the day. There are less distractions. You can thereby be more attuned to your body, its rhythm. Your breathing, your arm swing, your leg movement, foot placement... I find myself shifting from the heel-roll-to-the-toe to landing more on the toe and running silently. The less my feet touch the ground, the less I hear them, the better stride I have. Hard to do for long distances. That for me is the "work" part of the workout. Concentrating to keep my feet silent and my stride therefore optimized. I can do it longer in the dark than during the day.
In the dark, it is me and my shadow running along. In the daylight, there are all these other distractions. Oh look there, oh look at that.... You get the point.
And when you run on a moonlight night... then it draws up the sounds of Cat Stevens' Moon Shadow
I'm bein' followed by a moon shadow
moon shadow
moon shadow.
Leapin' and hoppin' on a moon shadow
moon shadow
moon shadow.
and running takes on a life of its own...
Happy running!
