Hello again, I’m back with an update on my track season thus far, first indoor meet, and other random happenings throughout the week. This past week, I had a chance for a few quick workouts rather than going on long runs and building my base. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday were all long run days. I would do either stride outs (sprint for 50m or 100m) focusing on form or technique strides (high knees, butt kicks, and others). An abdominal workout followed after my runs.
Core strength is vital when it comes to racing. Some of my core work includes: bicycles, leg raises and exercises for my back abs. I attached a copy of my complete abdominal workout. On Tuesday, my coach decided to do 1600m and an 800m time trials to see how everyone was doing with winter running. It was windy and snowing (the snow looked like little dippin dots) but nonetheless, we still ran. I did not run the best mile, but I still broke 5 minutes. In between the 1600m and the 800m, I ran a cool down/warm-up of one mile to prevent my legs from getting tight. On Thursday, I ran a ‘straights and curves’ workout, but instead of speeding up on the straights and slowing down on the curves I ran a 400m fast and then an easy pace on the next 400m (essentially alternating each lap). I continued this for 4 miles or 16 laps. It felt good to finally run a fast paced workout and to get my legs ready for racing. Of course, there is still much work to do and I will continue working hard this next week and knowing that I need to train hard and be patient in order to get to the state meet.
Saturday was the Monmouth Indoor Invitational where I would only run the 800m. I left with the team at 7 am, arrived in Monmouth at 8am and would not run until later that day. I rested until 11:30am and then began a mile warm-up and some dynamic stretching. Then, for the first time since the outdoor season 2012, I put on my spikes, Nike Matumbo Orange and Purple! I got my hip number, 1, and did my stride outs to try and get my legs used to running fast. Finally, at around 1pm, it was race time. I took the lead at the start and didn’t let anyone pass the rest of the race. The first lap was slow at 32 seconds since I was trying to remember how to run an 800m. The first 200m also set the tone for the race by going out pretty slow. I picked it up the second lap which was 30 seconds making my 400m split 62. I settled back down the next lap at 33 seconds and the other racers began to catch up so I kicked with all that I had to end with a 29 second last lap. It was a good first race for me, not the time I wanted but I did end up winning so I was happy about that. My legs felt a little heavy during the race; this didn’t surprise me since I hadn’t raced in a long time. It felt good to get my feet ‘wet’ and run competitively. I ran a 25 minute cool down after the race and than I noticed my calves were abnormally sore and my coach said it was because I was not used to running on my toes for a race like the 800m yet. I rolled them out with foam roller, which hurt but felt good. I got home at around 6 pm. It was a long day.
The last week was probably one of the busiest weeks I have had in a long time. It was the start of the third and most intense trimester: Honors Calculus, Honors Physics, Honors French IV, World Literature, and Visual Basic (Programming class). Each class is 65 minutes. Besides schoolwork, I didn’t want to miss any of March Madness. It was champ week so I kept up with all the conference tournament action with my favorite teams: Illinois and Mizzou. Both won their first game but then lost to Indiana and Ole Miss. They still both made it into the NCAA Tournament. Illinois surprised me with a #7 seed while Mizzou’s #9 seed did not surprise me at all. I am excited to watch as the post season unfolds and see all the upsets in the tournament. I also would like to wish everyone a Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! I don’t really celebrate it and I wish I did, but today I felt like relaxing, doing some homework and watching some basketball. Thanks for reading my blog this week! I’ll be back with more next week!
More Coverage