Sprinting on the Track

We visited a local, quarter mile track this morning.  The weather was perfect. Blue skies, temp in the mid-seventies, low humidity, and enough of a breeze to make it comfortable.

We warmed up for 15 minutes, running slow and walking, picking up the pace gradually with each of a half dozen short (100 yard), running intervals, before we finally put the pedal to the metal…so to speak.

Pam--two strides ahead

Then we each sprinted 100 yards as hard as we could go. No it certainly wasn’t fast. But we both gave it 100% and we were gasping for air at the end the sprint. We repeated that scenario three times while recovering with walks in between each interval. And we counted our strides (see the 5/15/18 post on stride counting) each time.

Rick--trying to catch up with Pam

As it turned out, Pam covered 100 yards in17.5 counts (70 strides), while I covered the same distance in 18 counts (72 strides).  This means, on average, that Pam’s strides are a little longer than mine. It means that she’s two steps faster than I am in 100 yards.  (Pam:  “I always tell him, I’m two steps ahead of you.  This just confirms it!”)

It also means that Pam may have picked up a little speed when compared to last year when she required 18 counts (72 strides) to cover the distance. And it means that I remained about the same because I’d required 18 counts (72 strides) to complete the task last year.

Bottom line is that we’re playing and experimenting with our sprinting hobby. We’re having fun with it. And monitoring our progress in this simple way is part of the fun.