Thank goodness I have done nothing but rest over the last day and a half as this evening was reserved for my track work with Panther's Tri Club members and TopNotch coaches. I must admit I was extremely hesitant going into this for numerous reasons:
When I got down to the grass track as usual I was early. This is another unmistakable Barbie trait. If I am not there early at any training or meet then there is something wrong - so come looking for me. Within 10 minutes the coaches pulled up and shortly there after other members started turning up one by one. Always nice to see familiar faces who can share in the joy and torture.
We started off with a 1200m warm up - nice and easy we were told. Running on grass is so very different to bitumen. It's uneven and really soft underfoot so I really had to focus where I was placing my foot. The lines on the track have no grass so it kind of hollows out inbetween lanes. I found myself running in these grooves just trying to find stable footing. When we finished the warm up it was time for some dynamic stretches. We did a couple 20m high knees, kick backs, and some side running where you kind of do a zig zag with your legs (not sure what that's called), sorry for the lame description.
We got to have a bit of a rest and then I got hit with our main set. I nearly keeled over - 10 x 400m continuous done as 200m race pace and 200m recovery run. Never ever in my wildest dreams did I think I would be asked to do this. I was having trouble digesting that piece of information until it finally hit me - I was going to have to run that oval 10 times. Did they get me confused with some All Star track athlete? My name is not Florence Griffith Joyner, it's more like Elmer Fudd!!!!
After procrastinating like a big girl, Chris the coach said to me "it's only 4km, you have run 4km". He was right - I had, it was just the way it had been presented to me that scared the living daylight's out of me. So, I finally sucked it up and started.
As usual I went out too hard and did my first 200m a bit too fast and knew that I would not be able to maintain that tempo for all of them. The recoveries felt really nice and it's funny cause after you have run a race pace 200m when you get to go slower it feels like you could almost walk faster. As each race pace 200m went by I could feel myself getting slightly slower but not by too much. What was really starting to show was my lack of form.
I think I have described my running style previously as a bit of an Olympic walker, well it showed again tonight. So what Chris got me to focus on was trying to place my feet on either side of the track line versus on the line - which is what I was doing. It seemed to work but it was not an easy thing to do. It really took all of my concentration to master. As did relaxing my shoulders and pumping my arms in a forward motion versus swinging them from side to side.
In saying all the things I did wrong, I did do alot of things that I am proud of:
- Never done track work before
- Feel self conscious of my running dis/abilities
- Worried I would get injured
- Hate feeling out of my depth
When I got down to the grass track as usual I was early. This is another unmistakable Barbie trait. If I am not there early at any training or meet then there is something wrong - so come looking for me. Within 10 minutes the coaches pulled up and shortly there after other members started turning up one by one. Always nice to see familiar faces who can share in the joy and torture.
We started off with a 1200m warm up - nice and easy we were told. Running on grass is so very different to bitumen. It's uneven and really soft underfoot so I really had to focus where I was placing my foot. The lines on the track have no grass so it kind of hollows out inbetween lanes. I found myself running in these grooves just trying to find stable footing. When we finished the warm up it was time for some dynamic stretches. We did a couple 20m high knees, kick backs, and some side running where you kind of do a zig zag with your legs (not sure what that's called), sorry for the lame description.
We got to have a bit of a rest and then I got hit with our main set. I nearly keeled over - 10 x 400m continuous done as 200m race pace and 200m recovery run. Never ever in my wildest dreams did I think I would be asked to do this. I was having trouble digesting that piece of information until it finally hit me - I was going to have to run that oval 10 times. Did they get me confused with some All Star track athlete? My name is not Florence Griffith Joyner, it's more like Elmer Fudd!!!!
After procrastinating like a big girl, Chris the coach said to me "it's only 4km, you have run 4km". He was right - I had, it was just the way it had been presented to me that scared the living daylight's out of me. So, I finally sucked it up and started.
As usual I went out too hard and did my first 200m a bit too fast and knew that I would not be able to maintain that tempo for all of them. The recoveries felt really nice and it's funny cause after you have run a race pace 200m when you get to go slower it feels like you could almost walk faster. As each race pace 200m went by I could feel myself getting slightly slower but not by too much. What was really starting to show was my lack of form.
I think I have described my running style previously as a bit of an Olympic walker, well it showed again tonight. So what Chris got me to focus on was trying to place my feet on either side of the track line versus on the line - which is what I was doing. It seemed to work but it was not an easy thing to do. It really took all of my concentration to master. As did relaxing my shoulders and pumping my arms in a forward motion versus swinging them from side to side.
In saying all the things I did wrong, I did do alot of things that I am proud of:
- I didn't quit
- I smiled and laughed ALOT
- I attempted everything
- I ran faster than I ever have before
