As I went to bed last night I knew that today had nothing nice to bring. After practice yesterday I showed my workouts for the remainder of the week to the coach down here (Mista Franklyn), and he told me that today’s was going to be a hard one. I looked at it and thought he must be confused, four 350s, that should be a piece of cake. But then Mista Franklyn went on to explain that with the rest given (5 minutes), there will be a build up of ‘nastiness’ in the muscles that will make the workout feel like hell, plus with the sun, I would definitely feel like I’m in hell. Well thanks Mista Franklyn. As soon as I got home I ate quickly, showered then went to bed, I wanted to get the best rest I could before this workout.
After waking up several times throughout the night, I finally got out of bed at 9. Everything Mista Franklyn told me haunted my dreams last night, and induced several running nightmares. I had the classic, running but I wasn’t able to move. The one where your legs weigh 100 pounds each, the killers coming after you, and you just can’t move. Then there was the weird one where I’m doing, and almost finished the race, then a giant penguin comes out of no where and swallows me up, I blame that one on the cheese I had just before I went to bed. When I finally woke up, it was morning as usual. Breakfast, movie, stretch. But the workout still pestered me in the back of my mind. My cousin went to the beach, and in hindsight I should have go as well to help relax a bit. Instead I just rested and waited for 4 o’clock to come.
When practice time finally came, there was a nice breeze and the sun wasn’t quite as intense as the two earlier days, I started to think it might not be too bad. I did my new abbreviated warm up, and worked on getting some positive thoughts in my mind to help me through the workout. Forty-five minutes later I’m ready to go. The old me would have messed around a bit before beginning, but I knew if I did negativity would fill my head again and make the workout harder then it needed to be. So without a second thought, I hit the workout full tilt and never looked back. The first two reps were done comfortably, 58 and 56 seconds, now comes the hard part. I’m told to keep strong form on the back straight, then really focus on the arm on the home stretch, this one will hurt I’m told, but then after this, just one more left. Well they were right, it did hurt, but I did what I was told and it paid off, 57 seconds. Everything starts to hurt and there is no position that is comfortable, my mouth is so dry I can’t swallow, and my legs are so sweaty that my hands slip off when I try to hunch over. I have one more left, one more Ese! My goal is just not to fall apart, keep it together, keep it strong. I go into the last rep with the mind set that it’s my first. I hit the back straight strong like before, my mind is telling me I’m good, so my body feels good. As I turn the corner I see 4 little children take off, I know the home stretch is where it will hurt, so I don’t think about it. All I think is ‘I can’t let these little kids beat me’. I pass the first three with ease, but the fourth puts up a fight, I keep my form, arms pumping strong, this kid is not going to beat me! With 20 meters left I pass the kid and I’m on top of the world! At 24 years old, I can still beat an 8 year old boy in a foot race! I owe that little boy more then he will ever know. Any other time I would have fallen apart on that last home stretch and came through in maybe a 60, but not today, instead I finished in 57. Thank you random island boy :-)
After it was all said and done, 4 x 350 did hurt, but only when I let it hurt. After the last rep, I laid on the grass for 20 minutes and let the hurt sink in, then dissipate. After some hurdle drills and a couple ab exercises, I was still alive and ready rest and let my body recover.
The short workout did hurt, but I think these are the ones that will help me out the most. A wise man once said “No pain, no gain”. The same man was later eaten by a shark…
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