NRC Speed Run with Nike Portland

This past Tuesday I participated in a NRC Speed Run with Nike Portland. The workout itself was held at the Michael Johnson Track at Nike World Headquarters. If you follow my blog, you know I have participated in other Nike events and NRC sessions in San Francisco, LA, DC and Chicago. I love going to each and every one. The energy is high, the coaches and pacers knowledgable, and I always have an incredible time.

The NRC Speed Run Workout

Tuesday's NRC speed run workout itself was pretty simple, at least in theory. A short warm-up run through the Nike campus, followed by some dynamic stretching. The speed run itself consisted of one thing, 400's. 12-16 rounds of 400's at your 5k pace. I went with the 8-minute per mile group since I haven't been participating in speed runs as much since my move to Portland. We would run a 400, rest for 1 minute and repeat. Our group did 14 rounds. My NRC app read 4.6 miles at the end of the workout.

The pacer for my group was incredibly energetic and really made each interval fun. When you are repeating the same distance over and over again things can get a bit boring, but the group was very high energy and made each interval different. We also held our pace well and while I was getting a bit fatigued by the end, I was happy to crush each 400 in the allotted 2 minutes.

Speed Run Weather Report

What should also be noted was the weather on Tuesday. All day the weather was gorgeous, blue skies and short sleeves kind of weather. Shortly before the speed run the skies opened up and buckets of water rained down and continued though the majority of the speed run.

I actually enjoy running in the rain once I've warmed up, so it was a fun change. Though I am not sure everyone agreed with me. Even if you don't enjoy running in rain storms, it's important to do it and include poor weather runs in your training. You never know what race day will bring. Check out my post on the Hot Chocolate 15k if you want to know about running a race in a storm! As Bill Bowerman, legendary Nike Founder and track coach, would say "There's no such thing as bad weather, only soft people."

I am glad that the thunder and lightning waited until our run was done to show itself. And it was a fun light show on my drive home.

Speed is in my future

I can't wait to get faster. One of my goal races this summer is the Bowerman 5k, a race held at Nike World Headquarters. Attending coached NRC speed runs like these can only help me get faster. And outside of this, I plan on putting in extra work to build my miles and speed back up.

If you live in Portland and want to join me, just download the NRC app and sign up for the next Speed Run!

All Photos courtesy of Nike and Jordan Beckett.