Last night the weather was windy and hot. Hardly the ideal environment to do a running workout of 16 X 400 meters on an outdoor track.

Oh sure, I’ve done workouts far more insane than that in terms of weather and difficulty. As college idiots, we once ran 28 quarters (400 yards) on a single stretch of snowy road. It was dark on a cold winter’s night in Decorah, Iowa and we averaged 80 seconds per 440, about 5:20 per mile pace, with a minute’s rest between. Insane, right?

But Sue and I aren’t into insanity. We’re into running well. So we opted out of suffering needlessly in the heat and wind last night to run an indoor workout on the 200 meter track at the Vaughn Center this morning.

Besides, they have toilets at the Vaughn Center. And when running in the morning, we need toilets.

So we warmed up and ran the 400s at her prescribed pace. My calves were a bit tweaky and my repaired knee was temporarily creaky, but the workout went really well together. There were moments when I felt ageless.

See, workouts don’t have to be insane, to be good. Remember that when you’re wondering whether to suffer needlessly. You’ll thank yourself down the road.