Mt. SAC Relays

            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. 

           

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Stanford Season Opener

           
            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 19^th. 

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. 

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And for fun here is the video of Levi's winning vault:

Off to 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. :)

To Race or not to Race? Part Two: "What the Heck?"

            As we pulled up to the race course the question was asked, “Are you going to race today?” I said that I would at least try. Everyone was telling me to be careful and make sure to stop if I felt any bad pain. I assured everyone that I would.

            Fifty minutes before the start of the race I began my warm up. Again, my Achilles felt fine. No pain. I was unstoppable…until thirteen minutes transpired. Then I began to feel that dull aching, almost pulling feeling in my left Achilles. I decided to do as normal a warm up as I could. After running nearly pain free for two miles I did some leg swings. I decided to forgo some of my drills to lessen the impact on my leg. Then I was off for a 3 minute tempo segment. My body was not feeling sharp. My legs felt heavy, my body was tired, and that darn Achilles was getting my attention.

           I continued to do the best warm up that I could without bothering my Achilles too much. I did a couple light strides and figured that was good enough. 9:57 a.m. and I was on the starting line. I ran the course during my warm up so knew what to expect as far as terrain and such. The start went down a steep downhill section, then you did a 90 degree turn and shortly after an 180 degree turn which got you through roughly a half mile.  From there through 4k it was relatively flat along the sea wall except for one tiny hill right before the 3k mark. With 1k to go the course wound its way back up to the finish. It started getting steep at 800m to go and there was one steep section about 400m to the finish. Once you crested that it was flat for the 100-150m kick to the finish.

             The race was designed for a fast start and not just due to the downhill portion. The leader at the mile would receive a $100 bonus. Believe me it crossed my mind to just try to go for the mile and then jog it in if my Achilles was bad. But with the sharp turns and steep downhill at the start I did not think it would be wise to test my Achilles. I was lacking confidence and wanted to play it safe, though most of you I am sure would not think racing on an injury is “playing it safe,” and I would have to agree with you…most of the time.

            As soon as the gun went off everyone dashed off and I was left trailing behind the leaders. After the downhill and sharp turns I started to get into a rhythm. The lead men were clearly racing for the mile and I watched as two specks from John Ricardi and Mike Sayenko raced through the mile in a blistering 4:24 pace! The lead women were also moving at a good pace. When I got onto the flat terrain I was tempted to make a charge and catch the lead women as they were about 40m in front of me. I decided to have some self control and stay back. Even still, I came through the mile in roughly 5:17. After the mile I figured I was in 4^th place. I could see one “woman” moving up through the field and take the lead.

            I slowly worked my way up through the field and by the 3k mark I took the "lead." My teammate Jane right behind. I kept my eyes on the “woman” ahead of me and pushed myself to reel her in. As I got closer I couldn’t help but think she looked super fit and pretty ripped. Then I noticed “she” had hairy legs…at this point I realized I was chasing a man but in a race your mind will convince you of crazy things. As I passed my lead woman I glanced over and “she” had a beard. There really was no reason for me to even think this person was a female. He was wearing a running top and split shorts, very typical of a male runner. He had a slim build so maybe in my mind I just assumed it was a woman. But either way he definitely helped me keep my eyes forward and continue to move up.

            With 1k to go, we started to climb. At this point I was very determined to win. I didn't feel any pain in my Achilles and my body felt pretty good. At 800m to go, Jane passed me and I had a choice to make, give in to the pain and settle for second or give it my all and possibly still end up second but have no regrets. Of course I chose option two. I stayed right behind her and was waiting until just under 400m to go to make my move. At that point I retook the lead and charged up the last steep climb. My arms were burning! As I crested the top and saw the finish I kicked even harder and heard the announcer announce me as the first woman across the line.

            My younger brother John, who also coaches me, heard the announcement and turned to his head to see who it was. His response was, "What the heck?" Apparently he wasn't expecting me to win. Quite frankly, neither was I but during the race I never doubted my abilities and I think this helped me stay positive and not "die" during the race. As soon as I crossed the finish line however, I could feel my tight Achilles. It is really amazing what your mind can do to block out certain pain during a race. I went for a short cool down just to flush some of the acid out of my legs. Then it was off to the awards and post race party. We were treated to delicious scones, warm stew, homemade bread and other goodies. Oh yes, and there was beer. Lots of beer for people to enjoy. I personally do not drink but it looked like everyone was enjoying themselves. 

            The award ceremony was very fun. I came home with lots of goodies and made some new friends in the process. What a great experience. We spent the afternoon strolling along the beach and I had my first Gyro ever and it was delicious. On the way home I iced my Achilles and was glad I had taken a risk and ran the race. After three weeks of having to cross train and not really being able to run it gave me some hope that I still had some residual fitness from before and I was able to maintain some of it by cross training.

            In sum, I had a great time, met some amazing people, got a little confidence back, and made a little money (which is always an added bonus). In the end I had no regrets about my decision and was fortunate that it did not end negatively with me coming back discouraged and hurting even more. And with that I will continue to cross train with more determination than ever because I cannot wait for the day when I can feel the wind against my face as I run and feel unstoppable. That day is coming soon my friends.