From Tuesday through
Sunday I was in Walnut, CA for the Mt. SAC relays and I am only a couple days
away from hopping back on a plane and heading to Palo Alto, CA for my next
track meet so I will give you a brief update on my first steeple of the season.
I raced in the elite
section Thursday night and the race felt great until the last two laps when my
legs did not want to jump anymore and lactic acid was setting in. At the start
of the race things felt very effortless and I thought I would have no problem getting
a PR. But since I was unable to practice any steeple technique due to injury
earlier in the year I soon discovered my jumps were subpar.
Levi took video of all
of my water jumps and I was not pushing off the barrier. I was landing very
deep and coming to a stop in the water which wasted a lot of time and energy!
The majority of my hurdles were not that smooth either. I noticed I was taking
off close to the hurdles and stuttering a little due to running in a pack and
not being able to see the hurdles.
The good thing about
all this is that my fitness is there and I just need to work on technique a bit
more. I do not have a lot of time before Payton Jordan but I believe I can fix
some of my issues and run faster. I will just need to be focused going into
every barrier and remember what I need to do to execute proper technique.
This past weekend I traveled down to Stanford University to
open up my outdoor track season with a 5k. Going into the race I didn’t know
what to really expect. I spent the month of March cross training and though I
knew I had lost some fitness I still entertained lofty ideas of me running a
PR. But realistically my goal was to run 16:40. This time is not my PR but it
was a start.
Last
year I ran 16:39 at the same meet. I made some very critical mistakes last
year, which resulted in me running a time slower than my workouts predicted. So
after a month of “rest” (as I like to view it,) I felt it was a reasonable goal
to run 16:40.
The
day of the race I felt pretty good. It was a beautiful day and Levi and I went
to a local park for him to do his “shake out.” Levi’s shake out day is much
different than mine. As a distance runner I typically run some easy miles then
do 4x200m strides at race pace. Levi’s shake out involves going to a local
park, doing a very short jog, then playing on the playground equipment where he
does flips and other crazy acrobatic tricks.
I
love being able to travel to meets with him. He keeps me relaxed and having
fun. When I am off on my own I can sometimes over think things and make the
race out to be a bigger deal than it is. Over the years I have learned to relax
more and enjoy the moment and gift it is for me to be able to participate in my
sport.
Watching
Levi on his shakeout was pretty entertaining. When he got to the playground
immediately a little girl came up to him and started chatting with him. She was
from a different country so neither of us had any idea what she was saying but
she started throwing a ball to him and it was clear she wanted to play. After
this Levi started to monkey around on the swings. The moment he got on a swing
two young boys came racing over to him and fought each other to get the swing
next to him. This of course turned into everyone jumping out of the swings and
watching Levi do tricks. Levi had two more die hard followers and wherever he
went on the playground they were right there watching. Eventually their mother
said it was time to go and I watched them start to leave. It looked like they
were trying to convince their mom they should stay and sure enough after getting
about 50 meters away they came sprinting back. Looks like the mom thought Levi
wasn’t too bad of an influence.
Eventually
the time came for me to head to the track. I got there early enough to watch
the steeple races. Watching everyone perform so well made me eager to race the
event. I wanted to jump in and
just do it! But I have to fight such impulses because my coach and I have a
plan. I am going to give my leg a little more time to get stronger and race the
steeple at Mt. SAC on April 19th.
As I started my warm up my body
didn’t feel great. I felt a bit sluggish but as I continued on my body started
to wake up a bit. My legs actually felt pretty good but my breathing was a
little rough due to a cold.
At 7:20p.m. I was toeing the line
along with 29 other women for the start. I didn’t feel nervous. My goal was to
be relaxed so I didn’t get sucked into too fast a pace from the gun. When the
gun went off all the women dashed frantically for position. I hung back on the
rail but one runner in particular kept trying to push her way in. I kept a
stiff arm and she kept ramming into it trying to push her way in. Eventually
she shoved her way right in front of me and I was tripped up a bit and ended up
falling into her back. I thought,
“Screw this!” and stayed back to save energy and let her continue to race
poorly. On a side note I ended up beating this runner. After the race she was
very distraught with her coach as to how she could have raced so poorly. My
coach wanted to tell her coach that he needed to teach his athletes how to
actually race and stop messing other people up but from what I have heard this
coach is notorious for giving his athletes advice to “race dirty.”
I came through the mile in 5:15 and
was almost last. The race was very different than last year where I ended up
taking the lead due to a very slow pace at the start. This year the girls were
going for it. Though I was a bit fast through the mile I managed to settle in.
The race never got less congested for me so I did my best to save energy in the
pack. Towards the end I was feeling pretty strong, just not snappy. I couldn’t
turn my legs over faster but they were not loading up. My breathing was rough
as my cold made it harder to breath but I managed to finish strong the last 800
meters.
I crossed the line in 16:36 and
reached my goal. Though I am not satisfied with that time I am satisfied that I
am able to run and race pain free and that the fitness I may have lost is not
that much and will come back soon.
I was set to fly out the next day
and was bummed I would have to leave before watching Levi vault. We had planned
our trips at different times and originally he was not going to compete at
Stanford. I was praying that somehow I would be able to stay but the night
before my flight had accepted the fact that I would just have to hear how he
performed via text updates.
My brother John drove me to the
airport and when I got to my gate I was informed the flight was overbooked.
After some convincing I managed to convince the Alaska Air attendant to let me
fly out Sunday. I was ecstatic! I quickly began trying to figure out the bus
schedule or any inexpensive means to get back to the track. John ended up
volunteering to come back and get me as there were a lot of men in the pole
vault and it would be awhile before Levi came in.
We made it back to the track with
plenty of time to spare and were able to watch Levi get a new PR in the pole
vault and win the meet! I was so thankful to have been able to watch him and am
looking forward to traveling down to Mt. SAC to watch him go even higher. After
Levi’s competition John and I headed out for a long run around the campus. It
was a beautiful run and I was very thankful to be able to spend one more day
enjoying the sun.
Living in the Pacific Northwest can get a little dreary at times so when April rolls around I get excited as that means lots of track meets in warm, sunny California! My month of March was spent indoors doing a lot of cross training while my left Achilles and Soleus tried to heal from an injury I suffered at the end of February. Being indoors is not the most enjoyable thing for me, even less so when I am not even able to run. But the weather did make it a little easier to be indoors. If it was sunny and warm I might have gone insane, but with colder and very wet weather outside it was nice to sit inside in a nice 70 degree climate while I looked out through the large windows at the ships and boats going by.
So after a little over a month of cross training, the track season is upon me, leaving me a little concerned as to my fitness level. Before my first outdoor track meet I typically would have completed at least 10 track workouts. Right now I have done two, which is great considering where I was at even a week before my first workout. I am now pretty much pain free. I get a little tightness in the Soleus at times and my Achilles still has some weird bumps on it but they do not hurt! I have been seeing a PT at the Sports Reaction Center and am so thankful for their help.
On Friday March 30th I went to the track to attempt my first workout. It was a week before I was scheduled to race and I needed to do something. I decided to do 400s at 5k pace, nothing too far or fast. I ended up doing two sets of 10x400m with a one minute rest and injury wise it felt surprisingly good. Physically I felt a little “out of shape” with my breathing and turnover. On Sunday I ran my first run outside and I made it 12 miles with very minimal tightness that went away during the run. Then on Tuesday I did another workout. This time I did two sets of 4x800m with a minute break, starting at 5k pace and working it down the second set. I felt pretty tired and sluggish the first set then snapped out of it and felt great the second set. I know I am not as sharp right now as in the past but that is o.k. I am making progress in the right direction and will regain that fitness when it matters. If anything the month of March probably served as a nice break for my body. Now everything should be replenished and ready to go…at least that’s what I am telling myself.
Later tonight I will be flying out with my husband and brother where we will all be competing at the Stanford Invitational Friday and Saturday. A couple of my friends/Club teammates will be there so it should be a blast. I will be racing the 5000m. After two successful workouts I was tempted to debut with a steeple but I know I need to be patient and give my body a little more time to heal and get stronger. The steeple is a tough event on your body and I want to have some practice under my belt to make sure my leg can handle the jumping before I race it. But the excitement I have for it is a good thing, and good things come to those who wait. :)
