On To The Next One

I made it safely out of camp a little injured but still functioning.  I wasn’t able to do all of the workouts, but I did do the last hard workout with the group.  Every year we finish the camp with a Brazilian, not the wax, a circuit.  This year was no exception, and to mark the 30th anniversary of the Tucson camp, the coaches pulled out a retro Brazilian from back in the day.  I tried my best to stay near the front of the pack for the workouts and for the last run I gave it all I had.  It was definitely tough, but I felt pretty good when it was all said and done. 

I took the next day off before starting my adventure back to Canada.  It was hard to believe I’d been in Arizona for almost two months, it seemed like I had just got there.  I did some last minute shopping and sun bathing, then prepared to head back home.  Some how when I packed my bags they seemed lighter than when I came down, I’m not complaining though, it made it a lot easy to get on the road.  After a stop off in Scottsdale to pick up some clothes that were left behind, I headed on the road.  My training partner Wade and I drove back to Canada in our other partner’s, Nathan, car and over the span of the two day drive we experienced all four seasons.  The drive started off nice through Arizona and Utah, the sun was out but not beating down on us and the sky was pretty clear.  As we got closer to Colorado the wind started to pick up and tossed the little car back and forth on the highway.  As we started our way up into the mountains the clouds came out to play and the temperature started to drop.  Before we knew it, it was raining, then soon after it was snowing.  For 5 hours straight we drove through the snow before stopping off in Wyoming for the night.  When we got out of the car we were clearly not prepared or dressed for the weather. We ran into the hotel and instantly pumped up the heat in the room.  The next morning we found out the highways heading east to west were closed because of all the snow! Lucky for us, we were heading north.  The snow had stopped falling but there was still plenty of it on the roads.  Wade did most of the driving, which both of us were pretty ok with.  It had been a while since I drove at all let alone in snow, so this probably wasn’t the time to start.  Slowly but surely though, the clouds started to part and the snow turned to sleet, then rain and finally it was clear.  It seemed like we turned a corner and it all disappeared, then next thing we knew, we were in Montana.  I drove a bit once the roads cleared up and with only one state left till we were home, I didn’t hold back on the gas :-)

The two day tripped when faster then I thought it would and I was super happy to be home.  The stay was a short one though.  We got home on the 12th and by the 17th I was on a plane heading to Toronto. 

I arrived yesterday and the plane ride was remarkable quick and comfortable.  I got a whole row to myself so as soon as we reached cruising altitude I sprawled out across all three seats.  Once we landed I found Toronto a little cooler than I thought it was going to me, so I instantly put on two sweater even before I was out of the building.  I found my uncle right away when I got out and we headed straight to the track to check it out. 

By the time we got home and I got settled in it was already 7 but it definitely didn’t feel that late.  I ate supper and headed to bed by 930 in hopes of getting the time change under control.

So far I haven’t worked out yet, but I’m hoping to get on the track today.  The track is 45 minutes away which is just a bit farther then I would drive back at home. I’m still in the process of figuring out how I’m going to get to and from practice, but I know something will work out…

Ooops…

After resting up my leg and taking it easy for a couple days I decided it was time to test how its doing.  Wednesday morning I did some short speed, but just on the grass to see how things felt.  My hamstring held up pretty well for most of it and I was looking forward to finally lighting it up in the afternoon session.  The workout for the afternoon was some starts on the corner then some speed endurance, 150-120-80 with three minutes break.  After the starts things were feeling pretty good, I could still feel a knot in my leg but things were definitely better.  My coach was a little hesitant to let me do the speed endurance workout, but I was able to convince her that I was ready to run.  Several days of ‘easy’ workouts were really starting to get to me, I was ready to run!  I told my coach that if I felt anything funny I would stop running and call it a day.  I lined up and awaited the commands.  I felt like I was ready both mentally and physically.  *GO!* I pushed off hard and everything was feeling good.  As I came off the bend I went from pushing, to standing up tall and pushing down on the track.  Halfway through the stretch I started to feel something, I had felt this before.  I could feel the knot in my hamstring starting to grab.  Everything was feeling so good! Why was this happening!  I let up at the first feel of the grab and coasted in for the remainder.  I thought I could just walk it off and be ready for the next one.  I started to walk back, and as I did my leg started to burn.  From my bum to my calf was on fire and I could barely move.  As each second passed, the pain got worse and I had to stop in my tracks.  I knew this was going to be the end of my workout.  I took off my spikes are retreated to the pole vault mat to raise my leg and hopefully keep down some inflammation.  I spent the rest of the evening icing and taking Advil trying to keep it from getting any worse.  I knew going into the workout it was possible this was going to happen, so I wasn’t too upset about it. 

I took the next morning off and did an easy workout the following evening. I continued to feel the soreness, so I didn’t push it. After doing some weights and some general drills my hamstring was still holding up pretty well.  I continued to ice all night with hopes of being able to get back to normal workouts. 

This morning I was able to put spikes back on and do some short speed without any pain.  I’m hoping that tonight I’ll be able to do a full workout again without any pain.  I think for the rest of the camp I’ll just try to get the most out of the workouts that I can and not get anymore injured.

Slowly But Surely

Each day since my physio appointment my hamstring has slowly gotten a bit better.  I can still feel some tightness but with each day its definitely getting better.

For the past couple workouts I haven’t been able to do my full workouts and I’ve been kind of disappointed with it.  I’ve been doing a lot of REALLY short speed, 10 meters then shut it down.  Today I was able to do some easy stuff on the grass and I was feeling ok.  I got my hamstring taped up a bit and I think it helped, so tomorrow I get to try out a full workout.

I’m hoping my hamstring loosens up and I can train for the remainder of the camp. So far its looking good, so I’ll have to wait for the morning and see if my leg holds up.

Tucson Camp Begins

Every year since my first year of university I have been coming down to Tucson for a high performance training camp.  It runs from April 29th until May 8th and each day usually has two to three workouts in it.  We drove down Thursday early in the afternoon and got in around 3:00.  In the past I had stayed in the camp hotel, but this year we decided to rent a house instead.  It ended up being the same price as staying at the hotel, except now we have a kitchen so we can save some money and cook for ourselves.  Once we finally got in and settled we headed to the track for a nice light warm up to get the drive out of our legs.  When we got to the track there were some University of Arizona athletes training, as well as some of the other members of the camp.  Walking into the track facility brought back many memories of the past camps.  The camp is pretty intense and some days I feel like dying from the workouts.  It was a bit cooler then expected it to be and I actually wore sweats for my whole warm up. 

Friday morning the camp got into full swing.  It was an early rise with a 6am morning run.  My run was 30 minutes, and the guys was only 20, so we woke up at the same time, but immediately parted ways.  The run started off really crappy because it was still pretty cool out in the morning. I ran on campus which was really nice, and by the second half of my run, I had finally warmed up.  I was pretty pooped by the time I got back home, so went back to bed for an hour then got ready for the second workout of the day.  We met at the track at 9 and got a chance to meet the rest of the people attending the camp this year.  There are 12 athletes this year and four coaches.  The weather was still surprisingly cool so the majority of my warm up was done in sweats again.  It felt really strange to be in Arizona and in sweats.  The whole time I was in Scottsdale the weather was really nice, and the last couple days were blazing! We worked on some technical parts of running as a group with one of the coaches.  We worked on quickening our contact on the ground, which meant a lot of ankle exercises.  The drills seemed to take a lot of ‘not thinking’ which I had a pretty hard time doing.  I ended up over thinking a lot of them, then just messing everything up!  I’ll continue to work on them though, because I think they will be really helpful.  We finished up just before 12 then headed home for lunch.  After a little time in the hot tub, I squeezed in a nap before our afternoon session came around.  It was back to the track at 4 for workout number three of the day.  After warming up as a group, everyone slit off into their events.  It was just me and one other girl with the sprints coach.  My blocks still have some way to go, and that’s all the evening practice worked on.  With some help and encouragement from the coach, my starts were beginning to look a lot better.  We finished off the workout with some longer speed, 3 x 150 full out with a 5 minute break.  Some of the other athletes joined us for this part of the workout, so six of us ran them together.  It has been a while since I’ve really trained with anyone, so having five other girls doing these with me was really nice.  The first two felt amazing, and I was able to finish them with out a problem and I wasn’t even tired.  After the second rep though I started to feel a bit of tightness in my hamstring.  I tried to shake it off and not think about it, I had one more left and I’d be done.  The sprints coach told us to just try and run the most technically sounds 150 we could.  He said not to worry about what the time was, and just keep everything together.  Coming off the corner I felt a little bit off, and something just didn’t feel right.  I tried to be tall down the home stretch and I pumped my arms fast and relaxed.  With 50 meters left something was feeling really wrong in my right leg.  It wasn’t a pull, but I could definitely feel my hamstring knotting up.  I eased up and just coasted through the line.  I know my time and my form weren’t the greatest for the last one, but something was feeling very wrong.  After cooling down a bit I could still feel a little something in my hamstring so when I got home I jumped right into the hot tub and put the jets on my hamstring to help work the knot out.  I did a bit more self recovery exercises before I went to bed and hoped it would feel better in the morning.

For Saturday morning we didn’t have a morning run, which I was very happy about.  When I woke up I could still feel a little something in my leg, but it was definitely better than the night before.  I started off practice with some weights and then moved into the running portion.  I didn’t feel too much while lifted weights, so I thought maybe my hamstring would be alright.  Some light split jerks, squats, squat jumps and finished off with incline press.  I hadn’t lifted since last week and it felt good to push a little weight again.  We headed out to the grass to do the running and I felt ready to go.  They were just easy runs, so I thought this would be a good time to test out the leg.  I didn’t go out too hard, but strong enough to see how things felt.  After the first four reps I was feeling ok, but I knew something was still a little off.  I did eight more, and I could feel the tightness building. It wasn’t painful but I knew it wasn’t right.  I finished the last four reps a little slower and eased off a bit.  It was so early into the camp, and it seemed like I was injured already.  We got the afternoon off because there was a meet in the evening at the track.  I had originally planed to go watch, but given how bad my hamstring was feeling, I had an appointment with physio instead. 

I spent about an hour with physio and so far its been the worst hour of this camp.  I’ve never been good with needles, so when acupuncture was recommended I immediately started to panic.  As I was prepped for the needles I could feel my heart start to race and my palms start to sweat.  My coach came with me to help comfort me, and I will admit it did help a bit.  With each prick of the needle though I began to sweat more and all I could think was ‘when is this going to end!’  I maybe got a total of eight needles, but to me if felt like a million.  This was only the second time I had gotten acupuncture and I just hoped it would work. 

I woke up with a bit of soreness from the acupuncture, but my hammy definitely felt a bit better.  Today I took it easy and just tested out how it feels.  I’m really hoping the tightness lets up and I’m able to do some quality training while at this camp.  I hate sitting on the sideline being quasi injured.  Even though the needles really sucked, if its going to help me out I’m willing to do it again.  I’ll just remember to bring an extra t-shirt next time!

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.