First off I want to start this by saying I'm not like the general population of LetsRun -- I am not naturally fast at running; in fact, I don't even have a sub 5 minute mile. I've never even been close to breaking 5. In short, I'm slow and I'm asking for assistance from the more experienced and talented people of LetsRun.
Here's the problem: I'm a high school kid who started track in search of a sport to stick with throughout high school. Thing is I've never really been that athletic. I am often in the middle to back end pf many workouts and it's pretty embarrassing, now that I'm an upperclassman. But because some of my closest friends are on the track team, commitments from the end of my freshman year, and encouragement from my coach... I'm still on the team.
Thing is, this year I developed some weird phenomenon and started to become fast -- but only in workouts. Here's what I mean.
In winter season there would be some workouts where I would start off in the middle of the pack. First interval is tiring as usual and I come in panting. My coach usually had us do active rest, by jogging a lap or a few hundred meters before doing another interval. This active rest allowed me to kind of ease into the workout, and later intervals only became easier for me. My breathing became a lot more leveled out and I was able to run faster for longer. I remember vividly 3 or 4 workouts where by the last 3 intervals I was passing some of the fastest runners on the team... Some with mile times 40 to 50 seconds faster than mine. (In the high-mid 4 minute range; 4:40 to 4:50) These workouts where I would do unusually well were usually shorter distance ones, such as 8x600 and a 12x400 workout (those are the two that I remember well). Unfortunately in races I would just do terribly, as you can tell by my PR in the mile. :P
Also, I have this problem where if I don't run for a few days, I pretty much lose all of my endurance. I went on a ski trip for a few days, came back, it snowed for a few days, roads were snowy, and I didn't run for about a week and a half. After the mini-hiatus, I'm completely out of shape and unable to run more than one 800 at sub 2:30 pace (We have to run that for tryouts). I have a friend who hasn't run for 6 months and is still faster than me! It just makes me disheartened I guess, that I worked hard and then i lose it all so easily.
So my question is, does this "easing in" of a workout happen to most people? And the problem of me losing my endurance really quickly - bad genetics? Any solution on how to fix this?
Sorry for the long post. I wanted to get it all out because I don't really have anywhere or anyone else to ask. Thanks for your time.