Last night was my running group's first training. Every Wednesday evening will be at a track working on speed and Saturday morning will be a long run going different distances on different routes. There are 4 groups, Marathon, Half-marathon, 10K and 5K. There are about 15 pace coaches as well. Our group of about 80 runners will be put in different buckets depending on which distance we are training for and the pace we run. The pace groups start at 7:30 minute miles and go up to 14 minute miles, but I am not sure the incremental breakdowns between. As the weeks go by, if our training is going well or poor, we can switch groups, distance or pace, which is nice. Takes a bit of the pressure off.

Last night, Wednesday, we were at the track working on figuring out which pace group we were going to fall into. Our coach had us start with two warm-up laps at a moderate pace. We then had someone from Therapeutic Associates show us some pre-run stretching routines. Next up was a 1 mile run at a pace where you could hold a conversation. Pace has always been an issue for me, and with all the people there, I think I ran a bit faster than I should have. I completed the mile (4 laps) in 8:08. After about a 5 minute rest, he had us run laps. Marathoners did 4 laps with a 30 second break in between, Halfers, 3 laps, 10Kers, 2 and 5Kers, 1. We were supposed to run at the same pace as our mile, but again, I failed miserably at that. I should have been running a lap at around 2 minutes, but was well under 2 minutes. I think all the adrenaline and people just gets me going, but I really need to follow the coach's directions. It will help prevent injury and put me in the pace group I belong. There is no reason for me to bite off more than I can chew.

We finished with two cool-down laps which was supposed to be at 50% effort, but again, I was running at just over 8:30 ...