It’s another great run session at the Ultra continuing where we left off from last week.

Warming up was a bit of a problem for some as the temperature was mild.  It takes a bit more time before our muscles get really warm and we perspired less, but this made running more pleasant.  Like past sessions, it started with a warm-up run, 5 laps or a total of 2K, followed by some routines and stretching.

The 42K group had 3×4×400M, or 3 sets of 4 laps each, a total of 4.8K while the 21K group where I belong had 3×3×400, or 3 sets of 3 laps each, a total of 3.6K.  Both groups had a 1 lap walk as rest in between sets.  The other groups had 3×3×300M or 2.7K.

My summary:
Warm up: 5×400M (2K, 10:00 est.)
Intervals: 3×3×400M (3.6K, 14:00 est.)
Total: 5.6K

There was a surprisingly huge turnout of people at the Ultra during the session, not all of them are run clinic participants though (Ultra is not exclusive to Nike Run Clinic).  Nonetheless, the coaches managed the crowd well and we got back to our respective groups for our program and continued our intervals.  I missed some familiar faces and I saw a lot of new ones.  The first time participants had a separate group so they still are “in the game.”

Sharing the tracks with so many people was very difficult but fortunately there were no collisions.  We had to run in a very tight pack, most of the time occupying only lane 1.  Imagine running at a pace of about 1:30 per lap with about 8 people all running on a single lane!  The group pacer had to constantly shout “Lane 1 Please!” to alert people to clear the lane as we approach.  These constant shouting actually worked to help us pass safely and also taught people some courtesy in using and sharing the tracks.  Despite the volume of people on the track, our group managed a time of 1:38-1:26 per lap, give or take a few seconds to each member’s time as we were constantly running on tight packs.

Like last week we ran short of time before we got to finish our final routines so we only managed to do stretching—sans core again.  Ultra has a “lights out” time of 9PM and since not everyone finishes their intervals at the same time, some finished their complete cool down routine, while some, like us, only had a portion.  I hope that Ultra gives us a bit of an extension next time since our program intensity would increase over the next sessions so we may need more time (2 hours is too short especially now that the number of participants is increasing).

I’m really enjoying these recent sessions: maybe because we are starting to get to know each other, and maybe because we are improving.  Maybe that’s also the reason that we find our 2 hour run session a bit short.