Not So Nerves of Steel

After finally getting my muscles loosened up a bit, I was able to compete last week in Los Angeles.  There was still a bit of tightness in my back hamstring, but not nearly as bad as it had been the week before.  The workouts leading up to the meet were fairly light and technical in preparation for competition.  Los Angeles is five hour drive away so we headed out early Thursday morning to get into LA with some time to practice on the track before the meet.  When we finally got to the track, steeplechase was about to start, so we could get right onto the track for a workout.  We walked around a bit and did a light warm up on the field beside the track. Being at the track made me really excited to compete and finally put all my training to work.  We had a pretty quiet night, and when I woke up Friday morning I was more than ready to run.  I didn’t run till 1:55 so after breakfast I chilled then started to work on some mental preparation.  I went over my race in my head over and over again.  I slowed it down and tried to lay out what would be the best way to run my race.  The more I played the race out in my head the more excited I got.  The excitement slowly turned to nervousness.  The more I thought about it, the more ways I figured the race could also go wrong!  I tried to stop thinking about the race and just relax, but it was too late.  I had worked up my nerves too much, and now I had to try to bring them back down by race time. 

We got to the track by 12 and the stands were already filling with people. I walked around for a bit to get a feel of the atmosphere and to try and calm myself down.  I watched some of the races that were going on, and at 12:55 I started my warm up.  The music I listened too during my warm up calmed me down a bit and refocus on my race.  When I finally checked in and got my number I knew game time was right around the corner.  I started scoping out the other girls and tried to figure out who I would be running against.  I knew I was in the third heat, and in lane 8.  The lane wasn’t the best, but I knew I would be running against girls around the same calibre as me.  When the announcer called for my heat I got so excited and nervous I thought I was going to throw up!!  They gave us a couple minutes before the race to set up our blocks and do a couple practice starts.  I went to my lane and tried to refocus as I set up my blocks.  I went down into the start position for a practice start and something felt very off.  I looked down at my feet and realized I had set up my blocks the wrong way, and I had the wrong foot forward!  I quickly changed them up and proceeded to do a practice start.  As I walked back I could see the other girls were ready to go, so I sped up a bit.  I took a look at my blocks one more time, and saw that they were angled in the completely wrong direction.  My nerves had really gotten to me, but by this point I had said ‘forget it’ to myself.  I left my blocks angled the way they were and stood behind my blocks and waited for the race to begin.

*RACERS TO YOUR MARKS*.  I got into my blocks and tried to be as calm as I could.  I tried to clear my mind, but it was going 100 miles an hour.  I tried to pick one thing to think about, one thing to focus on but nothing was working.  As I placed my hands down onto the track I could see them shaking.  *SET*  I took a deep breath in, this was it. *BANG!!*  And we were off.  I really don’t remember much of the start all I remember is looking up and I was coming up to the back stretch.  I could hear the girl coming up on me in lane 7, I wasn’t going to let her pass me, I pushed a little harder.  As I got to the 200 mark I was still feeling alright.  I couldn’t hear the girl behind me anymore and everything was still holding together.  At the top of the bend, everything changed.  Something was happening, things were getting heavy.  I continued to run, and as I came to the home stretch I looked down to the finish and it looked way more than 100 meters away.  The heaviness continued to build, and I couldn’t think of any way to fight it.  The girl in lane 7 passes and all I can think is ‘Go with HER!’  I feel like for two steps I can stay with her, but that soon fades, as do I .  Each step brings the finish line no closer, and I continue to get passed by other girls.  With 20 meters left I all but give up, I stride it out across the finish line and all I feel is exhausted. 

I walk and grab my things and say good job to the other girls.  Most of them are making friends with the garbage cans, as I try to figure out what went wrong.

The first 300 meters of my race were definitely pretty good.  The start needs a little work, but that should be easy to fix.  The nerves got the best of me this time around.  Instead of running my own races, I got caught up in someone else and faded out very hard at the end.  I ended up running 56.49, which considering how bad the last part went, was still pretty good.  Once I finished my race and cooled down, I had a good laugh at myself.  I’m not really sure why I got SO nervous, probably just some first race jitters.  I’m definitely glad I got them out of the way, and now I can just go out and race.  Once the race was over I remembered how much I like racing. 

My next meet will be this weekend at ASU.  My back is feeling much better, after some painful physio appointments, and I think it will hold up until the weekend.  This time I should be able to keep my nerves under check, and hopefully break into the 55 second range.

Tight Ain’t Right

Every since mid last week I’ve had a giant knot in my right hamstring.  After practice on Tuesday it felt a little tight, but I didn’t think too much of it.  We had Wednesday off, so I thought this would be a good chance for my hamstring to loosen up.  By Thursday the knot had grown and so had the pain.  I warmed up as usual in hopes that it would loosen up as I got warm.  The workout for the day was 4x4x200, so sixteen 200s all together.  I had three minutes between the reps and five minutes between the sets, so I knew this was going to be hard, even without the bum hamstring.  Putting together how I felt about my leg, with how I felt about the workout, I was very angry going into the workout.  I didn’t like being hurt, and sixteen 200s seemed like a lot to me!  I was able to get through the first set fairly easily, and all in 29 seconds as well.  My hamstring did not get any better though, as the workout went on, the ball seemed to get bigger and more painful with each rep.  The second set started off well, with a 28 and a 29, but the last two ended up as 30, which just made more angry.  I was getting tired, and my leg was just getting worse.  I had two sets left and I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it.  My coach could sense my anger, and discomfort, so we agreed to just do one more set.  My legs felt drained, and the sun was in my eyes for every rep, it just seemed like nothing was going right for me.  The first three reps were slow, and I felt like I had nothing left.  My coach told me just to stay strong on the last one and not to worry about the time.  I had to worry about the time though, I needed to redeem myself.  So far the whole workout had felt horrible and I needed to finish off good.  I hit the last 200 with everything I had and more.  I felt like I was floating, and I couldn’t feel anything in my legs, not pain, no tiredness, no energy either! I cross the finish line and clicked down on my watch.  I looked down, all I wanted was a decent time, 29.66! Not bad for being so down, so tired, and a knot the size of a baseball in my hamstring. 

On Friday my training partners competed in long jump at a meet at Mesa Community College.  I warmed up with them to get the blood flowing and feel out how my hamstring was feeling.  It didn’t feel too bad in the morning, and during the warm up jog it was alright too.  I did drills like I normally would, and that’s when the tightness came out again.  I did a couple starts on the corner and that’s when I knew my hamstring still wasn’t ok.  I was worried after my warm up because I had planned on running the next day at a meet at Arizona State University.  This was going to be my season opener and I was super excited to run.  As I warmed up though, my excitement turned to fear.  As I finished my warm up I saw my coach had shown up so I immediately told her what was up.  She felt my hamstring and knew that something wasn’t right with it.  She made the call I hoped she wasn’t going to.  ‘Don’t run tomorrow’, the three words I didn’t want to hear.  It was especially hard to hear that from her, while standing at a track meet.  Being at a meet just made me want to run more, and being told not to was a hard pill to swallow.  I knew  it was for the best though, hurting it seriously now would just mean I wouldn’t be able to run more later.  I enjoyed watching the boys long jump, but longed to compete myself for most of the night.

On Saturday I woke up kind of down knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to run.  As I got out of bed though, the tightness in my hamstring emphasized that not running in the race was for the best.  Me and my partners ended up going later in the evening to watch the meet at the university.  The atmosphere at the university reminded me of that in Trinidad and Tobago during their meets.  The stands were packed, people were cheering, and music was playing.  Being there definitely made me want to run more then ever. I quickly got caught up in the meet though, and just enjoyed being there. 

Today I was back to training.  My leg still hurts a big, but I had an appointment with physio tomorrow, and I’m really hoping it will help.  I’m set to run in LA on Friday.  I feel ready to run, I just have to figure out what’s wrong with my hamstring then I’ll be set to go!

Hoppy Easter

I got Easter Sunday off, but not before laying down a good workout on Saturday.  I only had to practice in the morning so I made sure to make it a good one. 3 x 250 with a  15 minute break, this meant all out on each of them, just like I was in a race.  My goal was to do them all in 33, that way in a race I should finish in around 52 or 53 seconds, if I run it right.  I took off hard on the first one, and coming around the corner I felt amazing, and fast! When I crossed the finish line I wasn’t tired at all, and my time was right on, 33.03.  I thought I had fifteen minutes to rest, but when I went over to tell my coach about my time, the break quickly got switched to 12 minutes instead.  That was ok though, I felt fresh and ready to go.  There was a football team practicing in the infield so I watched them during my break.  At ten minutes in, I went back and put my spikes on and got ready for the next rep.  I was still feeling fresh, but I don’t think my mind was 100% into the run.  I took off hard just like before, but as I came into the corner I felt like I was thinking about everything but running.  My mind was wandering, and by the time it came back and refocused on what I was doing I was already done.  I finished in 34.58.  I was a little off, but my main concern was keeping my head in the workout.  For this break I didn’t watch the football practice at all, I just plugged in my iPod and chilled for the break.  I starting to feel a bit tired, but I tried my best to block it out.  Once again at the ten minute mark I headed over to the start.  It seemed just as I was walking over to the start, a bunch of cornerbacks were also heading in the right direction.  As I got ready to do my last rep, the football players started to do some drills which ended with them running out and across the track.  So much for blocking them out!  I tried to get their attention and let them know I was going to go, but I didn’t work.  At 12 minutes I attempted to go, and of course just as I was about to take off, on of the players ran out in front of me.  I must have given him a pretty evil look, because as he walked back he had a look of fear in his face, and he yelled at the other players to stop until I was done. I walked back to the line and tried to re-coop myself.  I took off hard again, but I was still a little hesitant that someone would jump out off the field.  As I hit the corner I knew I wasn’t going as fast as I should be, so I tried to speed it up.  I could feel myself get tighter in the shoulders, and my legs were starting to get heavy.  The last 100 meters seemed to take forever, but I tried my best to keep my hips high throughout the whole run.  I finished 34.98, definitely wasn’t happy at all.  I just wanted to grab something, anything and throw it! My coach had to leave right away, so I rushed over and told her the time.  She saw that I was upset about the times, but she told me not to worry.  The times were still good, and next time I just have to shoot to keep them all in the 33 range.  I guess if my coach is happy with my times, I really shouldn’t have too much to worry about. 

So Sunday was off, partially because it was Easter, but also just to get some rest.  With a race on Saturday, rest will be important this week, and I’ll just work on some fine tuning until then.

Monday I was back to two practices, but still some pretty easy ones.  In the morning I did some general exercises and some light short speed.  I’m still working on some of the pointers that I was given last week.  My first step has gotten a bit better, now to just work on my arm movement.  I felt it come along in a couple of the accels I did, so I at least now know what its suppose to feel like.  For the afternoon workout I was back into the blocks.  Blocks are my weakness, so I’ll be working on them as much as I can to improve my race.  Once again I did a couple starts that felt really good, and my coach said they looked good too.  I finished off with 5 x 150 from the 400 meter start.  This gave me a chance to see what the beginning of my race should feel like.  I think once I get out of the blocks my race is pretty golden, I just gotta keep working on the starts then I’ll be good to go. 

This morning we had off.  I woke up with my a pretty sore hamstring so I went for a jog then tried to stretch it out the best I could.  I’ll have to wait till practice tonight to see if it did the job.  Only a couple days till race day, and I’m hoping my hamstring wont become an issue.

Just Your Typical Monday Workout

Today was back to practice, so up early and at the track by 9am.  The track was a little quieter today as a lot of the junior athletes that had been training with us, left to go back to Canada.  We were finally able to get our coaches undivided attention.  She gave us a warm up that seemed a bit familiar and it wasn’t till I was halfway through I realized what it was.  It was the Monday warm up, which meant Monday’s workout.  It was 6x200 with 3 minute break. The last time I did this workout was the day I got into Arizona, and it got the best of me.  Today I was a little more rested and prepared for the workout,  so it shouldn’t go too bad.  Just like the last time, I did the first rep a little too fast, 28 seconds.  I was feeling pretty loose and not too tire though, so it may not end too bad.  The next four were in 29 seconds, but on the fifth one I was really tired.  I could feel as I came down the straight that my form was falling apart and I was getting.  With each run it was taking me that much longer to walk back to the start to get ready for the next rep.  I took an extra 30 seconds for the last one, and gave it all I got.  The first 50 meters I didn’t really feel anything, but as I came around the corner, that quickly changed.  I looked down to the finish line and it seemed like with each step it got further away instead of closer.  By the time I crossed that line my hips had dropped and my arms were barely moving, everything you don’t want when you run! I was still able to finish in 30 seconds, and this time my breakfast wasn’t all over the track when I was done.  I was able to improve from last time, and not feel as bad when I was finished. 

After a hard morning, I had a little bit easier afternoon.  I had worked a lot on my starts a could days ago, so in the afternoon we tested it out on the corners.  I pulled out the blocks and tried to work on what I was taught, and on a couple of the starts it actually felt a bit better. I know if I continue to work on my weaknesses my overall race will become a lot better.  Both of today’s workouts felt really good, and I know I’m on my way to a really good season.  Only 8 days till race day, and I starting to feel really ready :-)