The Spark #
Okay, so I’m in the process of getting back into running. Fun fact: my wife and I’s first date was a run. When we met, we were both heavily into it, but a few years later she got injured and had to stop completely. I sort of slowly fell out of the habit myself. I still ran occasionally into my late twenties, but it wasn’t until after I had kids that I stopped entirely.
The comeback started at work. I switched programs last year and noticed half the hallway was filled with runners. They were talking about doing a 5K that weekend, I somehow caught the bug, and called my wife to say I was thinking about it. She said she was already on the registration website as we talked:
“I’m on the site. They want to know your expected time so you know where to start.”
“I think the last one I did took between 21 and 24 minutes,” I told her.
“Okay, I’ll put you down for 24. What size shirt do you want? A large?”
“No, a large feels too tight these days. Put me down for an XL.”
That shirt size should have been my first clue. I absolutely killed myself trying to squeeze in a sub-30-minute time on race day.
Rebuilding the Base #
That painful experience demoralized me, and it took nearly a year before I even looked at running again. This time, I’m doing it right, starting slow instead of jumping straight off the couch into a race.
A local summer run camp popped up that preps runners for exactly the 5K I’d just survived. Coworkers had been talking about it for months. I wasn’t convinced to sign up yet, but the talk was contagious. I started running twice a week about six weeks before camp began. At first, I could only run seven minutes before walking. Slowly, that built up until I hit 25 minutes straight by the time camp started. I was logging two 2.5-mile runs a week, five miles total.
The Two-Minute Drill #
One thing that really helped gauge my progress was intentionally testing a two-minute sprint once every other week. It reminded me of a drill from my travel soccer days back in high school. At practice, we’d split into two groups and race to see how many full-length fields we could run in 120 seconds. The minimum to skip the end-of-practice version was six lengths. If you hit seven, you were done entirely. By high school, eight meant automatic exemption for the next session too.
The losing half had to do another drill right after. If the whole team missed six, everyone re-did it. In one practice, you could rack up four of these drills. Suffice it to say, I dreaded those back then. But this time, they became my benchmark.
My first test left me struggling to hit four lengths. A couple weeks later, I added half a length. Right before camp started, I finally hit five.
The Mile Time Trial #
The day before the camp launched, I decided to officially commit. I signed up and even paid for the group membership to pressure myself into the fall program.
The first session was a one-mile time trial. Work buzzed with nervous energy I haven’t felt since high school sports. It was an exciting, anticipatory kind of tension. I ran through my strategy in my head all morning, checking recent data points: my five miles per week, that brutal 5K from last year, and my two-minute drill results. Based on that research, my window looked wide: worst case around 10 minutes, likely just under nine, best case sub-eight if I gutted it out.
I ran a 6:55 mile.
I was shocked. In the coaching app’s notes section, I told my coach exactly what happened: this wasn’t what I expected, especially given only five miles weekly for six weeks. The next seven weeks of training would be calculated off that mile time.
I’d be lying if I said it didn’t light a fire under me. The run didn’t feel comfortable, I’m just shy of 200 pounds right now, but my body finally responded to the demand. I proved I could still shift gears and finish strong with solid top-end speed.
My original plan was simple: stick with the 7:30/mile pacer as long as possible, then drop back. To my surprise, that pace felt too slow. At the quarter-mile mark, I moved forward. I’d run up to the next runner and sit on their heels, but they’d usually slow down, so I kept climbing until there was no one ahead of me except the guys with the 6:00 pacer. I could see them, felt good, and started stepping up my pace.
In the final stretch, I kicked into a solid stride just short of a sprint. Then I felt someone closing in on my right. I pushed harder into a full sprint. We made eye contact at the finish line, so I smiled and yelled, “Let’s go!” before leaving them in the dust. It felt INCREDIBLE! The timer called out, “Good job! 6 minutes and 55 seconds.”
Where Do I Go From Here? #
That runner’s high hit me like a wave, something I hadn’t felt in easily over ten years. I got home and couldn’t stop bragging to my wife that she was married to an athlete (haha).
I’m genuinely excited to keep running, and I think the structured environment of this seven-week camp is what finally broke my slump. The group dynamic brought out a competitive side of me I’d totally forgotten was still there.
Based on my mile trial, here are the training paces my coach assigned:
- Easy: 9.30+
- Threshold: 8.00
- Interval: 7.25
- Repetition: 6.55
By the way, check out my coach. She’s apparently a local legend:
Short Intro #
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0X_68v-7b8
Longer Intro #
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v05EvXWi08w
