I awoke this morning a little disappointed by the absence of snow on the ground. However Mother Nature always has a way of surprising me. So instead of Mr. Snow showing his face, Mr. Wind came out to play. And play he did. I didn't mind the cool weather but when you added the wind into the mix, it really dropped the temperature. I was hoping to run in shorts today, but the wind just made it it a bit too cool for that. A group of runners from the ERC were running at the Arboretum this morning. I wanted to join them, but with the type of workout that I had scheduled, I needed the hill at Vallette and was looking forward to running through the Meadows on my cool down. So my first workout started with a 1.5 mile warmup. Easy pace. 9:10. Tough starting my run into the nasty wind but what can you do. Save for a few stretches of ice, the path was clear and I was moving along. Finished the warm up and walked over to the start of the quarter mile mark. Yep. I knew this mark well. I knew what I had ahead of me and the longer I stood staring at the hill, the longer it was going to take me to get my workout done. I just needed to get my legs going and not think about it. That hill wasn't going to get any flatter any time soon. It's times like these when I draw strength from athletes I admire, sport stories I have read, workout videos I have watched and of course some Nike and Gatorade commercials. Gotta love those commercials. They always energize me. Here we go. Ok, so I toe up to the line and just start pumping my legs and arms as fast as I can. The workout called for a hard quarter mile run both up and down with the down being 1 minutes faster than the up. Do this 5 times with a 1 minute rest in between and I was free to do my cool down. The first climb up and down the hill was fast. I was definitely sucking wind when I hit the bottom of the hill. I saw Nancy and Ashley as I was charging up my second hill and their "Rebel Yell" of "Attack that hill" was all I needed to push myself and add another set in the books. Still sucking some wind, (man this 1 minutes rest was not enough for me), I was ready for my third set and started up the hill again. This time the street was clear. No friends to yell and cheer me on, so I focussed on this show I watched about Tim Tebow and how he trained before the draft. His perseverance and determination to push through exercises helped me get to the top. A couple of Hail Marys helped propel my legs down although my legs were beginning to tire a bit. Two more sets I said to myself and then I was home free. Back to the starting line again, and this time was I thinking about the Duke v UNC game tonight. I was thinking about all the effort that those players put into training all season for this game. What did I have to complain about, all I had to do was push my body up and down a hill. So, under all the grimacing, I charged up and down the hill again. Four are in the books. Still sucking wind. Okay, one more set to go and this one had better be my best and hardest or I wasn't going to be happy. So, for some inspiration, I though about a lot of things I have learned from my coach over the past couple of months. Thought about hard work, effort, being strong, making my workouts count and seeing the big picture. Before I knew it, I was at the top of the hill and pushing hard down. Hit the marker and I was done. Now, I had an easy 1.5 mile cool down and as I treat I was going to run the last part of it in the Meadows. Different scenery, different surface and muddy. A fun way to end my first workout of the day.
Ran.
I had a busy day ahead of me, so I came home, showered, refueled, did some photo work and started to think about my second workout for the day.
Workout number two was in the afternoon and in the form of a swim at the Courts.
I look forward to the swims after a hard run. I think swimming is a great way to revive the body and stretch out all the muscles. The question was, which swimmer was going to show up today. Was it going to be Dara Torres or Tessa the Titantic. And the winner is...Dara Torres.
My stroke was smooth today and I even cut two more off my lap. That is a good sign. It would be an even better sign if I could do this all the time. Something that I need to keep working at. But I will celebrate the improvement as it comes. By the time I finished my last set, I was spent. I crawled out of the pool and could not wait to get home and eat. I was famished all day. I think I ate about 5 meals today including dinner.
Two good workouts, a great day at work,two walks today with my dog, dinner with my family and I am looking forward to my 18 mile run tomorrow morning. Thank you Lord for all the wonderful blessings you have given me.
No comments:
Post a Comment