Lindsey had the idea a couple of months back to organize and offer group speed sessions as part of Coaching services and I have got to say that I love it. Not just from a coaching perspective but personally I love it. All speeds and runners are welcome. Its free and you get a great workout. If you are in Indy…think about joining us. We will be out there every Wednesday getting it.
 There is something good about doing a workout as a group. All out there getting it done. Supporting each other. Hanging out afterwards. Its an environment that breeds success if you ask me.  I mean don’t get me wrong I still do a vast majority of my workouts alone. I like them alone but once a week its nice to have the group to push and support. It is a different mental game doing them alone and I believe there is great value in that as come race day its just you and the clock. But there is also great benefit in being to feed off the group, push yourself with group. Group suffering is also good. I guess, as just with everything else, there is a balancing act between group and solo work.
We have been doing them now for 4 weeks and I have made two them. We try and alternate who attends since apparently Marshall is unable to watch himself and it is frowned upon if we leave him alone…whatever responsibility.
Today was my turn to attend. The workout called for 3 x 1 mile repeats with 2:00-3:00 recovery and the option for a 4th for whoever wanted to flex their muscle :).
I ran up from the house to meet the group. Its about a two mile run up the Monon to our meeting place by Einstein’s. It was pretty foggy outside this morning…which is pretty strange for July in Indiana but the weather has been kind of weird lately so who knows. We had another great group out this morning ready to do work at 5:30. I love it! Its an early start but with jobs, the heat, and everything else it is just easier to get the session done early then have it hanging over your head  all day.
Amy, Jake, Gabe, Meghan, Jeff, Blake, and Sean were all ready to go when I got there. We warmed up about a mile and half and then it was time to work.
Sean is getting ready for his first marathon, the Monumental Marathon downtown, and is a heck of a runner…I mean he took 3rd in state for Cross Country, has a 1:14:xx Half PR and ran for a year or two at IU before retiring so I was glad to have him out there to do some work with me.
The Workout:
Mile 1 – 5:28
Mile 2 – 5:33
Mile 3 – 5:33
Mile 4 – 5:26
That last mile hurt. Â The goal was to run them in about 5:30 – 5:34 so I was happy with the splits. The weather helped today…last time we did this workout it was obscenely hot and humid for even 5:45.
Everyone in the group was working hard up and down the Monon. Amy tweeted earlier that she took 20 secs per mile off her previous splits from the last time we did the workout. I’m telling you work works. She will kill her PR here in the fall! It will be exciting to see!!
Once everyone was done with their workout we did another group cool down about another mile and half….well it was kind of a group cool down. Jake had a false alarm with his keys. He thought they had went missing so we were up and down the trail looking for them but they never turned up. Turns out they did a little hide and seek in his compression shorts and were found once Jake changed. HAHA. I’m glad they turned up because if it was me that would have drove me crazy. Ask Lindsey, I can’t stand losing or not being able to find something. I have to look until I find it. I have to.
Finished the run off with another two miles back to house. It feels good to have about 11 miles with some speed done before 7:30.
With it being 4th of July this week, I ended up taking today and Friday off…so that is nice. Just hanging with Marsh and Lindsey today and then I think we are going to head up to CP for the 4th to see my family and best friend, who just had a baby.
Also Lindsey is allegedly running the Firecracker 6 tomorrow downtown. She’s already nervous. Weather should be good. We’ll see how she can hammer. 6 miles is hard. Its long enough to be into endurance but short enough to really push. Its a tough distance. Next up for me after some easy runs tomorrow and Friday is 16 steady state miles @ 6:35. I’ll be doing this alone.
Oh and I think we might go check out the new Earth Fare in Carmel later. We like to keep it hippie and organic.
Have  a great 4th! Happy birthday America! Come run with us next week!
Questions: Do you like running with a group? What about tough sessions alone? Racing any 4th of July events?